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University  of  California. 


FROM     IHE    LIBRARY    OF 


DR.     FRANCIS     L  I  E  H  E  R , 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  y<irk. 


:HK   Glh'T   OK 


MICHAEL     REESE, 


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1  S  T  ^  . 


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SECRETARY  OF  THK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMKRCB,  NEW  YORK. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  withfunding  from 

IVIicrosofl  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/charterbylawswitOOnewyrich 


THE 


CHARTER  AND  BY-LAWS, 


WITH 


A  HISTORY 


OP 


'%  ^mkt  nf  (Cnnunrm  nf  tlje  $kh  nf  Snn-^ark, 


INSTITUTED  APRIL  5,  1768,  INCORPORATED  MARCH  13,  1770; 
RE-INCORPORATED  APRIL  13,  1784. 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

1855 


<.^ 


NEW-YORK: 

JOHN    M.    ELLIOTT,    PRINTER, 

No.  12  Old  Slip. 


NOTE 


The  original  Charter  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  written  on  parch- 
ment, and  contained  in  a  mahogany  case,  which  was  enclosed  in  a  tin 
box,  is  believed  to  have  been  preserved  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Merchants'  Exchange  by  fire,  in  December,  1835.  Since  that  time, 
although  diligent  inquiry  has  been  made,  no  trace  has  been  found  of  it. 
This  notice  is  made,  in  the  hope  that  the  members  of  the  Chamber  will 
assist  in  an  effort  to  recover  a  record  of  such  antiquity  and  interest.  In- 
formation on  the  subject  is  requested  by  the  Secretary. 


(Ibfflrerjs  d  \^t  €)^mki 


1855 


P.  PERIT,  President. 
GEORGE  CURTIS,  1st  Vice  President. 
ROYAL  PHELPS,  2d  Vice  President. 
JOHN  J.  PALMER,  Treasurer. 
EDW'D  C.  BOGERT,  Secretary. 


Committee  of  Arbitration. 

JOSHUA  L.  POPE,  Chairman. 


Committee  on  illercantile  Cibrarg* 

HENRY  W.  HICKS, 
CHAS.  AUG.  DAVIS, 
CHAS.  H.  MARSHALL, 
HENRY  K.  BOGERT, 
PHILO  L.  MILLS. 


<^nbitors  of  C^ccottnts. 

STEWART  BROWN, 
GEORGE  CURTIS. 


Commissioners  of  |)ilots. 

ROBERT  L.  TAYLOR, 
CHARLES  H.  MARSHALL, 
E.  E.  MORGAN. 


MEMBERS 


OP 


Jlm-'^nrlt  ^mki  nf  (CnmiiiBrrr. 


Adams,  John  T. 
Allen,  Gilbert 
Alsop,  Joseph  W. 
Anderson,  Elbert  T. 


Aspinwall,  John  L. 
Aspinwall,  William  H. 
Astor,  William  B. 
Aymar,  Benjamin 


Babcock,  Samuel  D. 
Baker,  John  0. 
Baldwin,  Simeon 
Barnewall,  William 
Barrow,  Henry  H. 
Barstow,  Caleb 
Barstow,  Henry  W. 
Beebe,  Charles  E. 
Beebee,  George  W. 
Bell,  George 
Bell,  Abraham 
Bell,  James  C. 
Benjamin,  Meigs  D. 
Benson,  Arthur  W. 
Bierwirth,  Leopold 
Binns,  William 
Blossom,  Benjamin 


Blunt,  George  W. 
Bogert,  Henry  K. 
Bogert,  Edward  C. 
Boorman,  James 
Boyd,  John  J. 
Brewer,  Henry  0. 
Brower,  John  H. 
Brown,  Elias  B. 
Beals,  Samuel  J. 
Brown,  Francis 
Brown,  John  P. 
Brown,  James 
Brown,  Stewart 
Bucklin,  Thomas  P. 
Burkhalter,  Charles 
Burlew,  Richard 


Caldwell,  Samuel  B. 
Coman,  Lucien  D. 
Carlyle,  Nathaniel  D. 
Carow,  Charles 
Carson,  Thomas  J. 
Cary,  William  F. 
Gary,  William  H. 
Chamberlain,  William 
Chauncey,  Henry 
Clapp,  Wellingtoa 
Clearman,  George  M. 
Coffin,  Edmund 


Collins,  Edward  K. 
Collins,  John 
Comstock,  Samuel  W. 
Connolly,  Charles  M. 
Cooper,  William  B. 
Corning,  Hanson  H. 
Cotheal,  David 
Cottenet,  Francis 
Cozzens,  Abraham  M. 
Curtis,  George 
Cuthbertson,  William  D. 


Davis,  Charles  A. 
Dabney,  Charles  H. 
De  Forest,  William  W. 
Dehon,  Theodore 
Delafield,  Henry 
Delano,  Franklin  H. 
Delano,  Frederick  A. 
Demarest,  James 
Depeyster,  James  F. 
Derham,  Henry  C. 


Devlin,  John  E. 
Dillon,  Robert 
Dimon,  Frederick 
Dodge,  William  E. 
Draper,  Simeon 
Duer,  Denning 
Duncan,  William  B. 
Dunham,  Thomas 
Durand,  Calvin 
Durbrow,  John  B. 


Eagle,  Horatio 
Earle,  John  H. 
Easton,  Charles 
Elliott,  George  T. 


Elwell,  James  W. 
Emmet,  William  J. 
Everett,  Silas  K. 


Faile,  Edward  G. 
Faile,  Thomas  H. 
Fearing,  Charles  N. 
Fearing,  Daniel  B. 
Ferguson,  John 
Field,  Benjamin  H. 
Field,  Hickson  W. 
William  R.  Fosdick, 


Foster,  Andrew 
Foulke,  Louis  P. 
Fowler,  Joseph 
Freeman,  Melancthon  M. 
Frost,  Charles  L. 
Frost,  William  T. 
Frothingham,  Abraham  R. 
French,  F.  M. 


Gaillard,  Joseph  Jr. 
Gebhard,  Frederick  C. 
Glidden,  Samuel  G. 
Goodhue,  Robert  C. 
Gordon,  Oliver  H. 
Gourlie,  John  H. 
Grant,  Alexander  H. 


Graves,  E.  Boonen 
Griffith,  Walter  S. 
Grinnell,  Cornelius 
Grinnell,  Henry 
Grinnell,  Moses  H. 
Griswold,  John 
Gross,  John  L. 


Habicht,  C.  Edward 
Hadden,  David 
llarbeck,  William  11. 
Ilavemeyer,  William  F 
Kicks,  Henry  AV. 
Hicks,  John  H. 
Hincken,  Edward 
Hoadlev,  David 


Hoffman,  Lin d ley  M. 
Hoge,  William 
Holt,  Horatio  X. 
Hotaling,  Samuel 
Hubbard,  Nathaniel  T 
Humphrey,  Solon 
Hunt,  Freeman 
Hurd,  John  R. 


10 


Irvin,  Richard 


Johnson,  Stephen 
Jones,  John  D. 


Jones,  Walter  R. 


Kelly,  Robert  ' 
Kendall,  Isaac 
Kent,  Henry  A. 
Kemochan,  Joseph 
King,  Archibald  G. 


King,  James  G. 
Kingsland,  Ambrose  C. 
Kingsland,  Daniel  C. 
Knapp,  Shepherd 
Kneeland,  Charles 


Lamar,  Gazaway  B. 
Lambert,  Edward  A. 
Lambert,  William  G. 
Lamson,  Charles 
Lane,  David 
Lane,  George  W. 
Lane,  Robert  L. 
Lathers,  Richard 
Lathrop,  Francis  S. 
Lawrence,  Alexander  M. 
Lawrence,  Cornelius  W. 


Leary,  Arthur 
Lee,  James 
Lefferts,  Marshall 
Lenox,  James 
Leupp,  Charles  M. 
Little,  Jacob 
Livingston,  Mortimer 
Livingston,  Schuyler 
Low,  Abiel  A. 
Ludlam,  Henrv 


11 


Macy,  Charles  A. 
Mac}',  Francis  H. 
Macy,  John  H. 
Macy,  William  IT. 
Maitland,  Robert  L. 
Maitland,  William  C. 
Mali,  Henry  W.  T. 
Marsh,  Samuel 
Marshall,  Charles  H. 
Maury,  Mathew 
McBricle,  George  Jr. 
McCready,  Nathaniel  L. 
Merle,  Gillaume 
Merritt,  Jacob  T. 
Meyer,  Lewis  H. 


Milliken,  David 
Mills,  Drake 
Mills,  Philo  L. 
Mills,  Philo  L.  Jr. 
Minturn,  Robert  B. 
Mitchill,  Samuel  L. 
Moore,  AYilliam 
Morgan,  Edwin  D. 
Morgan,  Elisha  E. 
Morgan,  George  D, 
Mott,  William  F.  Jr. 
Mumford,  Benjamin  A. 
Murdock,  Uriel  A. 
Murray,  James  B. 
Meyers,  John  K. 


Nash,  Lora 
Neilson,  Anthony  B. 
Neilson,  John 
Nelson,  John  G. 


Nelson,  William 
Newbold,  Clayton 
Norrie,  Adam 


Oelricks,  Edwin  A. 

Ogden,  David 

Ogden,  James  Depeyster 


Olyphant,  David 
Osgood,  Nathaniel  H. 
Otis,  James  W. 


12 


Palmer,  John  J. 
Palmer,  Nathaniel  B. 
Park,  Charles  F. 
Park,  Rufiis 
Pearson,  Isaac  G. 
Peck,  William  M. 
Penfold,  Edmund 
Pepoon,  Marshall 
Perit,  Pelatiah 
Petrie,  James  S. 


Phelps,  Anson  G. 
Phelps,  Royal 
Phillips,  James  W. 
l*hoenix,  James  P. 
Phoenix,  Jolm  IJ. 
Pillot,  Andrew  P. 
Pond,  Loyal  8. 
Pope,  Joshua  L. 
Porter,  Asa  S. 
Poultney,  Benjamin 


Raberg,  Charles  II. 
Redmond,  William 
Reed,  Isaac  H. 
Richardson,  Edward 
Robbins,  George  S. 


Robert,  Christopher  R. 
Roome,  Charles  H. 
Roosevelt,  Cornelius  V.  8. 
Rogers,  Charles  H. 
Russell,  Charles  H. 


Sale,  William  A.  Jr. 
Sage,  Francis  P. 
Sampson,  Joseph 
Sanderson,  Edward  F 
Sayre,  David  L. 
Sherman,  Benjamin  B. 
Sherman,  Watts 
Simes,  John  D. 
Slate,  Oliver  Jr. 
Sloan,  Samuel 
Smith,  Isaac  H. 
Smith,  J.  Rufus 


Smith,  James 
Smythe,  Henry  A. 
Southmayd,  Horace 
Soutter,  James  T. 
Spofford,  Paul 
Spofford,  Paul  N. 
Stanton,  Thomas  P. 
Stebbins,  Henry  G. 
Stephenson,  George  S. 
Stevens,  By  am  K. 
Stevens,  John  A. 
Stone,  William  W. 


13 


Story,  Rufus 
Strachan,  Patrick 
Stratton,  Robert  M. 
Stucken,  Edward 
Sturges,  Jonatlian 
Sturges,  "William  E. 
Sturgis,  Russell 


Suarez,  Leonardo  S. 
Suffern,  Thomas 
Siis,  A.  William 
Sutton,  Cornelius  K. 
Sutton,  Effingham  B. 
Suydam,  Henry 


Talbot,  George  A. 
Talcott,  Frederick  L 
Tappan,  John  S. 
Taylor,  Robert  L. 
Terry,  John  T. 
Thomae,  George  F. 
Thomas,  John 
Thompson,  Jonathan 
Thompson,  Samuel 
Thorne,  Jonathan 


Thurston,  Frederick  G. 
Tileston,  Thomas 
Todd,  William  J. 
Townsend,  Isaac 
Trask,  Charles  H. 
Tredwell,  George 
Trimble,  George  T. 
Trimble,  Merritt 
Trundy,  Richard  W. 
Tucker,  R.  Sands 


Underwood,  John  A. 


Victor,  Theodore 


Vose,  Francis 


14 


Wakeman,  Burr 
Walclron,  George  B. 
Wall,  Charles 
Wall,  William 
Walter,  Ellwood 
Ward,  Augustus  H. 
Warren,  George 
Webb,  William  H. 
Westervelt,  Jacob  A. 
Weston,  Richard  W. 
Wetmore,  Prosper  M. 
Wetmore,  William  8. 
Wheeler,  Ezra 


Wheeler,  William  A. 
White,  Campbell  P. 
Whitlock,  Augustus 
Whitlock,  Benjamin  M. 
Whitney,  Stephen 
Williams,  John  8. 
Wilson,  James  B. 
Wilson,  William  8. 
Winslow,  Isaac 
Winslow,  Thomas  8. 
Winthrop,  Benjamin  11. 
Withers,  Reuben 


Young,  Edmund  M. 


The  above  embraces  all  the  members  of  the  Chamber  up  to 
this  present  time. 

New-York,  Dec.  11,  1855. 


OFF  ICE  11  8 

OF   THE 

CHAMBER   OF    COMMERCE. 

FROM  ITS  ORGANIZATION, 
1768. 


PRESIDENTS. 
elected.  retired, 

1768  John  Cruder, 1770 

1770  Hugh  Wallace, 1771 

1771  Elias  Desbrosses, 1774 

1774  William  Walton, 1775 

1775  Isaac  Low, 1784 

1784  John  Alsop, 1785 

1785  John  Broome, 1794 

1794  Comfort  Sands, 1798 

1798  John  Murray, 1806 

1806  Cornelius  Ray, 1819 

1819  William  Bayard, 1827 

1827  Robert  Lenox, 1840 

1840  Isaac  Carow, 1842 

1842  James  De  Peyster  Ogden, 1845 

1845  James  G.  King, 1847 

1847  Moses  H.  Grinnell, 1848 

1848  James  G.  King, 1849 

1849  Moses  H.  Grinnkll, 1852 

1852  Elias  Hicks,  (died,) 1853 

1853  P.  Perit, 

VICE    PRESIDENTS. 

1768  Hugh  Wallace, 1770 

1770  Elias  Desbrosses, 1771 

1770  Henry  White, 1773 

1771  Theophylact  Bache, 1774 

1772  William  Walton, 1774 


^ 


16 

JELECTED.  RETIRED. 

1773  Isaac  Low, 1775 

1774  John  Alsop, 1779 

1775  William  McAdam, 1780 

1779  Thomas  Buchannan, 1783 

1779  Hugh  Wallace, 1781 

1781  Jacob  WaltoxN, 1783 

1783  William  Walton, 1784 

1783  Gerard  Walton, 1785 

1784  Isaac  Sears, 1785 

1785  William  Constable, 1788 

1785  Pascal  N.  Smith, 1788 

788  Theophylact  Bache, 1792 

1788  John  Murray, 1798 

1792  Gerard  Walton, 1793 

1793  Comfort  Sands, 1794 

1794  John  Blagge, 1797 

1797  John  B.Coles, 1817 

1798  George  Barnewall, 1800 

1800  Archibald  Gracie, 1825 

1817  William  Bayard, 1819 

1819  Robert  Lenox, 1827 

1825  William  W.  Woolsey, 1839 

1827  Isaac  Carrow, 1840 

1839  James  Boorman, 1841 

1840  James  De  Peyster  Ogden, 1842 

1841  James  G.  King, 1845 

1842  Henry  K.  Bogert, 1846 

1845  Stewart  Brown, 1847 

1846  David  S.  Kennedy, 1847 

1847  Moses  H.  Grinnell, 1847 

1847  William  H.  Macy, 1849 

1848  Moses  H.  Grinnell, 1849 

1849  James  De  Peyster  Ogden, 1851 

1849  Prosper  M.  Wetmore, 1850 

1850  Charles  H.  Russell, 1852 

1851  Elias  Hicks, 1852 

1852  Caleb  Barstow, 1855 

1852  Samuel  L.  Mitchell, 1854 

1854  George  Curtis, 

1855  Royal  Phelps 


17 

F.LECTEP.  RETIRED. 

TREASURERS. 

1768  Elias  Desbrosses, 1770 

1770  Theophylact  Bache, 1771 

1771  William  Walton, 1772 

1772  Isaac  Low, 1773 

1773  John  Alsop, 1774 

1774  William  McAdam, 1775 

1875  Charles  McEvers, 1780 

1780  Robert  Ross  Waddle, 1784 

1784  John  Broome, 1785 

1785  Joshua  Sands, 1789 

1789  Cornelius  Ray, ,  1806 

1806  Henry  J.  Wyckoff, 1840 

1840  John  J.  Palmer, 

SECRETARIES. 

1768  Anthony  Van  Dam, 1784 

1784  John  Blagge, 1785 

1 785  Adam  Gilchrist,  Jr.  , 1786 

1786  William  Shotwell, 1787 

1787  William  Laight, 1796 

1796  William  W.  Woolsey, 1801 

1801  Jonathan  H.  Lawrence, 1803 

1803  John  Ferrers,  

1817  John  Pintard, 1827 

1 827  John  A.  Stevens, 1832 

1832  John  R.  Hurd, 1834 

1834  Jacob  Harvey, 1838 

1838  E.  A.  BooNEN  Graves, 1841 

1841  John  D.  Van  Beuren, 1843 

1843  John  L.  H.  McCrackan, 1843 

1843  Prosper  M.  Wetmore, 1849 

1849  Matthew  Maury, 1853 

1853  Edward  C.  Bogert, 


CHARTER 


OF 


£llB  3lm-':i;%rlt  (Cljnmtor  nf  (CDimiiBrrr. 


'(Hj. 


George  the  Third,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  and  so  forth — To  all  to  whom  these  presents 
shall  come.  Greeting": 

Whereas,  a  great  number  of  merchants  in  our  city  Kecites  that  the 
of  New  York,  in  America,  have,  by  voluntary  agree-  ^uone^'di^exuS". 
ment,  associated  themselves  for  the  laudable  purposes  «»t<^o'^-  coidcn, 
of  promoting  the  trade  and  commerce  of  our  said  pro- 
vince; and  wiiereas,  John  Cruger,  Esq.,  the  present 
President  of  the  said  Society,  by  his  humble  petition 
presented  in  behalf  of  the  said  Society,  to  our  trusty 
and  well-beloved  Cadwallader  Colden,  Esq.,  our  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  our  said 
province  of  New  York,  and  the  territories  depending 
thereon  in  America,  and  read  in  our  Council  for  our 
said  Province,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  February  j,^^  .^,gj,,  p^^rua- 
last  past,  hath  represented  to  our  said  Lieutenant  Go-  ^^'' 
vernor,  that  the  said  Society  (sensible  that  numberless 
inestimable  benefits  have  accrued  to  mankind  from 
commerce ;  that  they  are,  in  proportion  to  their  greater 
or  lesser  application  to  it,  more  or  less  opulent  and  po- 
tent in  all  countries;  and  that  the  enlargement  of  trade 
will  vastly  increase  the  value  of  real  estates,  as  well  as 
the  general  opulence  of  our  said  colony)  have  associat- 
ed together  for  some  time  past,  in  order  to  carry  into 
execution  among  themselves,  and  by  their  example  to 
promote  in  others,  such  measures  as  were  beneficial  to 


20 

those  salutary  purposes;  and  that  the  said  Society  hav- 
ing, with  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  experienced 
the  good  effects  whicli  the  few  regulations  already 
adopted,  had  produced,  were  very  desirous  of  render- 
ing them  more  extensively  useful  and  permanent,  and 
more  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  so  benevolent  an 
institution;  and  therefore  tlie  petitioner,  in  behalf  of 
the  said  Society,  most  humbly  prayed  our  said  Lieu- 
to  incorporate  tenant  Govcmor  to  incorporate  them  a  body  politic,  and 
them,  ^^  invest  them  with  such  powers  and  authorities  as 

might  be  thought  most  conducive  to  answer  and  pro- 
mote the  commercial  and  consequently  the  landed  in- 
terest of  our  said  growing  colony ;  which  petition  being 
read  as  aforesaid,  was  then  and  there  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  our  said  Council,  and  afterwards  on  the 
same  day,  our  said  Council,  in  pursuance  of  the  report 
of  the  said  Committee,  did  humbly  advise  and  consent, 
that  our  said  Lieutenant  Governor,  by  our  letters  pa- 
tent, should  constitute  and  appoint  the  petitioner,  and 
tlie  present  members  of  tlie  said  Society,  a  body  corpo- 
hy  the  uanie  of  I'atc  and  politic,  by  the  name  of  "The  Corporation 

tlie"Cort)oration  /  i  /-^  /-<  -v-r 

of  the  Chamber    OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  IX  THE  ClTV  OF  ^  EW 

of  Commerce  in    a-  a  »,  ^  ^       ±       j^i  /•  ^i 

the  city  of  New  i ORK,  L\  AMERICA,  agreeable  to  the  prayer  or  the 
said  petition:  Therefore,  we  being  willing  to  further 
the  laudable  designs  of  our  said  loving  subjects,  and 
to  give  stability  to  an  institution  from  whence  great 
advantages  may  arise,  as  well  to  our  kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  as  to  our  said  province, 

Know  ye.  That  of  our  special  grace,  certain  know- 
ledge and  mere  motion,  we  have  willed,  ordained,  giv- 
en, granted,  constituted,  and  appointed,  and  by  these 
presents  for  us,  our  heirs  and  succeesors,  do  will,  or- 
dain, give,  grant,  constitute,  and  appoint,  that  the  pre- 
sent members  of  the  said  Society,  associated  for  the 
purpose  aforesaid,  that  is  to  say,  John  Cruger,  Elias 
Desbrosses,  James  Jauncey,  Jacob  AValton,  Kobert 
Murray,  Hugh  Wallace,  (ieorge  Folliot,  AVm.  Walton, 
John  Alsop,  Henry  White,  Philip  Livingston,  Samuel 
Verplanck,  Theophylact  Bacho,  Thomas  White,  Miles 


21 

Hherbrook,  Walter  Franklin,  Robert  Ross  Waddell, 
Acheson  Thompson,  Lawrence  Kortwright,  Tlionias 
Randall,  William  M'Adam,  Isaac  Low,  Anthony  Van 
Dam,  Robert  Watts,  John  Hams  Cniger,  Gerard 
Walton,  Isaac  Sears,  Jacobus  Van  Zandt,  Charles 
M'Evers,  John  Moore,  Lewis  Pintard,  Levinus  Clark- 
son,  Nicholas  Gouvernenr,  Richard  Yates,  Thomas 
Marston,  Peter  Hassencliver,  Alexander  Wallace,  Ga- 
briel H.  Lndlow,  Thomas  Buchannan,  Wm.  Neilson, 
Sampson  Simson,  Peter  Kettletas,  Gerard  W.  Beek- 
mau,  Jacob  Watson,  Richard  Sharpe,  Peter  Remsen, 
Heniy  Remsen,  junior,  William  Seton,  Edw.  Laight, 
John  Reade,  Robert  Alexander,  Thomas  ^V.  Moore, 
Abraham  Lynson,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  Nicholas  Hoffman, 
Hamilton  Young,  Thomas  Walton,  John  Thurman, 
John  Weatherhead,  (4arrit  Rapelye,  Gerard  Duyck- 
inck,  William  Stepple,  William  Imlay,  Augustus  Van 
Home,  Henry  C.  Bogert,  George  W.  Ludlow,  Joseph 
Bull,  Leonard  Lispenard,  Thomas  Miller,  Jas.  Beek- 
man,  Samuel  Kemble,  Alexander  M'Ponald,  and  Sam- 
uel Bayard,  jun.,  all  of  our  city  of  New  York,  in  our 
said  province  of  New  York,  merchants,  and  their  suc- 
cessors, to  be  elected  by  virtue  of  this  our  present  Char- 
ter, shall  for  ever  hereafter  be  one  body  corporate  and 
politic  in  deed,  fact  and  name,  by  the  name  and  style 
''The  Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
IN  THE  City  op  New  York,  in  America,"  and  them 
and  their  successors  by  the  same  name,  we  do  by  these 
presents  really  and  fully  make,  erect,  create,  constitute 
and  declare  one  body  politic  and  corporate  in  deed,  fact, 
and  name  for  ever;  and  will,  give,  grant,  and  ordain, 
that  they  and  their  successors,  the  Corporation  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  Ame- 
rica, by  the  same  name,  shall  and  may  have  perpetual 
succession,  and  shall  and  may  by  the  same  name,  be  per- 
sons capable  in  the  law  to  sue  and  be  sued,  implead  and 
be  impleaded,  answer  and  be  answered,  defend  and  be  ne?of  aSL™!""" 
defended,  in  all  courts  and  elsewhere,  in  all  manner  of 
actions,  suits,  complaints,  pleas,  causes,  matters,  and 
demands  whatsoever,  as  fully  and  amply  as  any  other 


To  have  perpet- 
ual succession. 


To   sue   and  ho 


22 

our  liege  subjects  of  our  said  province  of  New  York 
may  or  can  sue  or  be  sued,  implead  or  be  impleaded, 
defend  or  be  defended,  by  any  lawful  ways  or  means 
May  be  capable  whatsocver;  and  that  they  and  their  successors  by  the 
chase^and^eJioy  Same  namc,  shall  be  for  ever  hereafter  persons  capable 
and  able  in  the  law  to  purchase,  take,  receive,  hold,  and 
enjoy,  to  them  and  their  successors,  any  messuages, 
tenements,  houses,  and  real  estates  whatsoever,  and  all 
other  hereditaments  of  whatsoever  nature,  kind  and 
quality  they  may  be,  in  fee  simple,  for  term  of  life  or 
lives,  or  in  any  other  manner  howsoever,  and  also  any 
goods,  chattels,  or  personal  estate  whatsoever,  as  well 
for  enabling  them  the  better  to  cany  into  execution, 
encourage  and  promote  by  just  and  lawful  ways  and 
To  promote  and  mcaus,  such  mcasurcs  as  will  tend  to  promote  and  ex- 
and^^assiT  ^dS  tcnd  just  and  lawful  commerce,  as  to  provide  for,  aid, 
mem  ers  ^^^  assist,  at  their  discretion,  such  members  of  our  said 
corporation  as  may  hereafter  be  reduced  to  poverty, 
and  their  widows  and  children :  Provided  always,  the 
clear  yearly  value  of  the  said  real  estate  doth  not  at 
Provided  their   any  time  exceed  the  sum  of  three  tlujusand  pounds 
come  ^d^oeVnot  sterling,  lawful  money  of  our  kingdom  of  Great  Bri- 
S.%crann.      tain.     And  that  our  said  Corporation  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  America,  and 
their  successors  for  ever,  by  the  same  name,  shall  and 
may  have  full  power  and  authority  to  give,  grant,  sell, 
Power  to  lease  Icasc,  dcmisc  and  dispose  of  the  same  real  estate  and 
e8tat5*&c.°^'^^^^  hereditaments  whatsoever,  for  life  or  lives,  or  years,  or 
for  ever;  and  all  goods,  chattels,  and  personal  estates 
whatsoever,  at  their  will  and  pleasure,  according  as 
they  shall  judge  to  be  most  beneficial  and  advantageous 
And  have  a  com-  to  the  good  cuds  and  purposes  aforementioned.      And 
may  blaue'^ed.*'  that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  them  and  their  suc- 
cessors for  ever  hereafter,  to  have  a  common  seal,  to 
serve  for  the  causes  and  business  of  them  and  their  suc- 
cessors, and  the  same  seal  to  change,  alter,  break,  and 
make  new  from  time  to  time  at  their  pleasure.     And 
also  that  they  and  their  successors  by  the  same  name, 
shall  and  may  have  full  power  and  authority  to  erect 
and  build  out  of  their  common  funds  or  by  any  other 


23 

ways  or  means,  for  the  use  of  the  Corporation  hereby  May  buiid  any 
erected,  any  house,  houses,  or  other  buildings,  as  they 
shall  think  necessary  and  convenient.   And  for  the  bet- 
ter carrying  into  execution  the  purposes  aforesaid,  our 
royal  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  give  and 
grant  to  the  Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  America,  and  their  suc- 
cessors for  ever,  that  there  shall  be  for  ever  hereafter 
belonging  to  the  said  Corporation,  one  President,  one  For  ever  to  have 
or  more  Vice  President  or  Vice  Presidents,  one  or  oneormoTevicc 
more  Treasurer  or  Treasurers,  and  one   Secretary;  rrmireTrearur- 
and  for  the  more  immediate  carrying  into  execution  retary.*^  °"^  ^^^ 
our  royal  will  and  pleasure  herein,  we  do  hereby  as- 
sign, constitute,  and  appoint  the  above  named  John  Appointment  of 
Cruger,  Esq.,  to  be  the  present  President;  the  above  PrSidlnt^' Hugh 
named  Hugh  Wallace  to  be  the  present  Vice  Presi-  prSdent;  Eiias 
dent;  the  above  named  Elias  Desbrosses  to  be  the  ?u^rS? Anthony 
present  Treasurer,  and  the  above  named  Anthony  Van  J^y^^"^  ''^^"''" 
Dam  to  be  the  present  Secretary  of  our  said  Corpora- 
tion hereby  erected,  who  shall  hold,  possess,  and  enjey 
their  said  respective  offices  until  the  first  Tuesday  in 
May  now  next  ensuing : — and  for  keeping  up  the  suc- 
cession in  the  said  offices,  our  royal  will  and  pleasure 
is,  and  we  do  hereby  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors, 
establish,  direct,  and  require,  and  give  and  grant  to  the 
said  Coi*poration  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  America,  and  their  successors  for 
ever,  that  on  the  said  first  Tuesday  in  May  now  next 
ensuing,  [and  for  the  keeping  up  the  succession  in  the 
said  office,  our  royal  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do 
hereby  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  establish,  direct 
and  require,  and  give  and  grant  to  the  said  Corporation 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
in  America,  and  their  successors  for  ever,  that  on  the  said 
first  Tuesday  in  May  now  next  ensuing,]  and  yearly,  on  the  ist  tucs- 
and  every  year  for  ever  thereafter,  on  the  first  Tues-  every  year,  to 

^  .-»«-.  ,1  T  J 1     •  meet  and  choose 

day  m  May  m  every  year,  they  and  their  successors  officers, 
shall  meet  at  some  convenient  place  in  our  said  city  of 
New  York,  to  be  fixed  and  ascertained  by  some  of  the 
By-Laws  and  Regulations  of  our  said  Corporation,  and 


24 

there,  by  the  majority  of  such  of  them  as  shall  so  meet, 

shall  by  ballot,  or  in  such  otlier  manner  and  form  as 

shall  be  regulated  by  the  By-laws  or  Regulations  of  our 

And  elect  one  said  Corporation,  elect  or  choose  one  President,  one  or 

President,  one  or 

more  Vice  Presi-  morc  V  icc  Tresident  or  vice  Presidents,  one  or  more 

dents,     one     or 

more  Treasurers  Treasurer  or  Trcasurcrs,  and  one  feecretarv,  to  serve  m 

and  one  Secreta-  .  ^     m  r        i  •  t        ^     ■,^  • 

ry,  for  one  year,  the  said  offices  lor  the  cnsuuig  vcar,  who  shall  immedi- 
ately enter  upon  their  respective  offices,  and  hold,  exer- 
cise, and  enjoy  the  same  respectively  from  the  time  of 
such  election,  for  and  during  the  space  of  one  year,  and 
And  until  other  uutll  othcr  fit  pcrsous  shall  be  elected  and  chosen  in  their 
choser^"""   '*^  respective  places,  according  to  the  laws  and  regulations 
aforesaid.      And  in  case  any  of  the  said  persons  by 
these  presents  nominated  and  appointed  to  the  respec- 
tive offices  aforesaid,  or  who  shall  hereafter  be  elected 
incaseauyofthc  ^^^  clioseu  thcrcto  rcspcctivelv,  shall  die,  or  on  any 
Eers  shaiuue  accouut  bc  reiuovcd  from  such  offices  respectively  be- 
or  be  romoved,    ^^^^  ^j^^  ^^^^^  ^£  ^^^'^^,  i-ggpectivc  appointed  services 

shall  be  expired,  or  refuse  or  neglect  to  act  in  and  ex- 
ecute the  office  for  which  he  or  they  shall  be  so  elected 
and  chosen,  or  is  or  are  herein  nominated  or  appointed, 
others  may  bc  ^^^^t  thcu,  aud  iu  any  and  every  such  case,  it  shall 
rioctcd,  ,^j^^  j^^^y  1^^  lawful  for  the  members  of  our  said  body 

corporate  hereby  erected,  to  meet  at  such  time  and 
times,  and  at  such  place  and  places  within  our  said 
upon  notice  gi-  ^^^Y  ^f  Ncw  York,  and  upon  such  notices  and  summons 
^^"'  as  shall  for  that  purpose  be  established  and  directed  by 

the  By-laws  or  Regulations  of  our  said  body  corporate, 
by  a  majoritv  of  ^"^  thcrc,  by  the  majority  of  such  of  them  as  shall  so 
^***^'''  meet,  elect  and  choose  other  or  others  to  the  said  offices 

respectively,  in  the  place  of  him  or  them  so  dying,  re- 
moving, neglecting  or  refusing  to  act  in  manner  and 
form,  and  after  the  same  method  to  be  observed  in  the 
annual  elections  of  the  like  officers  respectively,  by  vir- 
tue of  these  our  letters  patent,  and  the  said  By-laws 
or  regulations  of  our  said  Corporation,  hereby  giving 
and  granting,  that  such  person  or  persons  as  shall  be  so 
elected  and  chosen  by  the  majority  of  such  of  the  said 
who  shall  exer-  members  as  shall  meet  in  manner  aforesaid,  shall  have, 
lintli  the  fir^t^'of  l^old,  cxercisc  and  enjoy  such  the  office  or  offices  to 

May  following. 


25 

which  he  or  they  shall  be  so  elected  and  chosen,  from 
the  time  of  such  election  until  the  first  Tuesday  in  May 
then  next  ensuing,  and  until  other  or  others  he  legally 
chosen  in  his  or  their  place  and  stead,  as  fully  and  am- 
ply to  all  intents  and  purposes  wliatsoever,  as  the  person 
or  persons  in  whose  place  he  or  they  shall  he  chosen 
might  or  could  have  done  by  virtue  of  these  presents. 
And  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  for  us, 
our  heirs  and  successors,  ordain,  direct  and  require,  that 
every  President,  Vice  President,  Treasurer  and  Secre- 
tary to  be  elected  by  virtue  of  these  presents,  shall,  be- 
fore they  act  in  their  respective  offices,  take  an  oath  or 
affirmation  to  be  to  them  administered  by  the  President,  officers  to  take 
or  in  his  absence  by  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents  of  the  atiou  before  the 

T  ,     ,  ,  ,  ii        •        1   X  T      •         rresidcnt  orVicc 

preceding  year,  (who  are  hereby  autliorized  to  admin-  prcsuicnt, 
ister  the  same,)  for  the  faithful  and  due  execution  of  ^     ,^    ^ . ,. , 

''  for    the    faithful 

their  respective  offices  during  their  continuance  in  the  fijjjj  j^jf^^,  ^^ 
same  respectively. — And  we  do  fui*ther,  for  us,  our  heirs 
and  successors,  give  and  grant  to  the  Corporation  of  thx^ 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in 
America,  and  their  successors  for  ever,  that  besides  the 
annual  meeting  of  our  said  Corporation  herein  before 
directed  and  appointed  to  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday  The  first  Tues- 
in  May  in  every  year,  it  shall  and  may  be  law^ful  for  ovfry  year*^ 
them,  their  lieirs  and  successors,  for  ever  hereafter,  for 
promoting  and  carrying  into  execution  the  laudable  in- 
tents and  designs  aforesaid,  and  for  the  transacting  the 
business  and  concerns  of  our  said  Corporation,  to  meet 
together  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  every  month,  for  ever, 
at  such  place  or  places  in  our  said  city  of  New  York  as 
shall  for  that  purpose  be  established,  fixed,  ascertained 
and  appointed  by  the  By-laws  and  llegulations  of  our 
said  Corporation :  and  that  the  members  of  our  said 
Corporation  being  so  met,  or  so  many  of  them  in  number 
at  the  least  as  shall  by  the  By-laws  or  ordinances  of  our 
said  Corporation  be  for  that  purpose  from  time  to  time  Jn^y  on^e'^orthe 
established,  directed,  ordained  or  appointed,  shall,  to-  with sudfanmn' 
gether  with  the  President,  or  any  one  of  the  Vice  Presi-  be's^'lsM^By-' 
dents  of  our  said  Corporation  for  the  time  being,  be  a  be'^lVgaTmcct^. 
legal  meeting  of  our  said  Corporation ;  and  they,  or  the  JYfin*Jay'\o  da™ 
4 


26 

major  part  of  them  so  met,  shall  have  full  power  and 
authority  to  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  or  for  any  other 
time,  as  the  business  of  our  said  Corporation  may  re- 
quire, and  to  do,  execute,  and  perform  all  and  every 
act  and  acts,  thing  and  things  whatsoever  which  the  said 
Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city 
of  New-York,  in  America,  are  or  shall  by  these  our 
and  transact  bu-  letters  patent  be  authorized  to  do,  act  or  transact,  in 
siness,  ^g  ^^11  ^^_^^  ample  manner  as  if  all  and  every  of  the 

members  of  the  said  Corporation  were  present.  And 
that  at  any  such  legal  meeting  of  the  said  Corporation, 
they  shall  and  may  in  writing,  under  the  common  seal, 
make,  frame,  constitute,  establish,  and  ordain  from  time 
to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  such  laws,  consti- 
tutions, ordinances,  regulations,  and  statutes,  for  the 
better  government  of  the  officers  and  members  of  the 
said  Corporation,  for  fixing  and  ascertaining  the  places 
of  meeting  of  our  said  Corporation  as  aforesaid,  and  for 
regulating  all  other  their  affairs  and  business  as  they, 
or  the  major  part  of  them  so  legally  met,  shall  judge 
l)est  for  the  general  good  of  the  said  Corporation,  and 
profitable  for  the  more  effectually  promoting  the  l)enc- 
ficial  designs  of  their  institution ; — all  which  laws,  con- 
stitutions, regulations,  ordinances,  and  statutes  so  to  be 
made,  framed,  constituted,  established,  and  ordained  as 
aforesaid,  we  will,  command,  and  ordain  by  these  pre- 
sents for  us,"  our  heirs  and  successors,  to  be  from  time 
and  be  obeyed,  to  time  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  kept,  obeyed,  and 
performed  in  all  things  as  the  same  ought  to  be,  on  the 
penalties  and  amercements  in  the  same  to  be  imposed 
and  limited,  so  as  the  same  laws,  constitutions,  regu- 
lations, and  statutes  be  reasonable  in  themselves,  and 
so  that  thov  arc  ^^*  rcpuguaut  or  Contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of 
not  repugnant  or  ^jjj^^  pj^^.^  of  Q^^y  kinffdom  of  Great  Britain  called  Eng- 

centrary  to    the  id  o 

^^^»^-  ^^  ?Z^^^  land,  nor  of  our  said  province  of  New  York. — And,  for 

Britain  and  ISew  '  ^  ' 

York.  ^Iig  keeping  up  and  preserving  for  ever  hereafter  a 

^     ,^  succession  of  members  for  the  said  Corporation,  our 

For  the  succes-  ^  ' 

sion  of  members,  -^yin  ^nd  plcasurc  is,  and  we  do  hereby  for  us,  our  heirs 
and  successors,  ordain,  and  give  and  grant  to  the  said 
Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city 


27 

of  New  York,  in  America,  and  their  successors  for  ever, 
that  at  any  of  the  stated  legal  meetings  of  the  said  Cor-  at  stated  meet- 
poration,  to  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  every  month  '"^'  ''''^^' 
for  ever  hereafter,  but  at  no  other  meeting  of  our  said 
Corporation,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  them  and 
their  successors  for  ever,  to  elect  and  choose  in  such  to  elect  and 
manner  and  form,  and  upon  such  terms  and  conditions,  ^  °°^^' 
as  shall  be  directed,  ordained,  and  established  for  that 
purpose  by  any  of  the  said  By-laws,  statutes,  constitu- 
tions, or  ordinances  of  the  said  Corporation,  such  and 
so  many  persons  to  be  members  of  the  said  Corporation 
as  they  shall  think  beneficial  to  the  laudable  designs  of 
the  said  Corporation ;  w^hich  persons,  and  every  of  them 
no  from  time  to  time  elected  and  chosen,  shall  by  virtue  ,vho  are  to  have 
of  these  presents  and  of  such  election,  be  vested  with  that  any  niembei- 
all  the  powers,  authorities,  and  privileges  which  any  edwUh.^^"^^^ 
member  of  the  said  Corporation  is  hereby  invested  with. 
And  in  case  any  other  extraordinary  meeting  or  meet-  Extraordinary 
ings  of  the  said  Corporation  shall  at  any  time  or  times  '"'^*'*^°^' 
be  judged  necessary  for  the  promoting  the  interest  and 
business  of  the  said  Corporation,  we  do  hereby  for  us, 
our  heirs  and  successors,  will,  declare,  and  ordain,  that 
it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  our  said  Corporation  to 
meet  from  time  to  time,  at  such  days  and  times,  and  at 
such  places  in  our  said  city  of  New  York,  and  upon  such 
notices  or  summons  as  shall  for  that  purpose  from  time  to  meet  upon  no- 
to  time  be  settled,  established,  directed,  ordained,  and  *^^^' 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  shall  together  with  the 
President,  or  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents  of  the  said 
Corporation  for  the  time  being,  be  a  legal  meeting  of 

to  1)6  IPfffll 

the  said  Corporation;  and  they,  or  the  major  part  of 
them  so  met,  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  act, 
transact,  do,  and  perform  all  and  singular  whatsoever 
may  be  transacted,  done,  and  performed  at  any  of  the 
hereby  stated  meetings  aforesaid  of  the  saidCorporation, 
savini?  and  except  the  electing  members,  making  laws,  but  not  to  elect 

^  f.  ,  ,  ,         members,  make 

ordinances  and  statutes,  and  disposing  ofthe  real  estates  laws  or  dispose 

of  rcfl-l  cstfitc 

of  tlie  said  Corporation.  And  our  will  and  pleasure  is, 
that  until  the  same  shall  be  otherwise  regulated  as  afore- 
said, that  the  meetings  of  the  said  Corporation  shall  be 


2S 

held  in  the  great  room  of  the  building  commonly  called 
Exchange/"  *^^  tlic  Exchange,  situate  at  the  lower  end  of  the  street 
called  Broad  street,  in  the  said  city  of  New  York :  and 
that  until  the  same  shall  be  also  otherwise  regulated  as 
No  act  done  in  aforcsaid,  that  no  act  done  in  any  meeting  of  the  said 
be  Valid  [Tiniess]  Corporation  shall  be  legal,  good,  or  valid,  unless  the 
President,  or  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents,  and  twenty 
others  of  the  members  of  the  said  Corporation  at  the 
least,  be  present,  and  the  major  part  of  them  consenting 
thereto.  And  we  do  further  give  and  grant  to  the  said 
Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  in  America,  that  it  shall  and  may  be  law- 
ful for  the  President  of  the  said  Corporation,  at  all  times 
hereafter  for  ever,  to  appoint  a  door-keeper,  one  or  more 
messenger  or  messengers,  and  all  such  other  inferior 
officers  as  shall  by  him  be  thought  necessary  for  the 
said  Corporation,  and  to  displace  them  and  any  or  every 
of  them  at  his  will  and  pleasure.  Provided  fievcrf/ieless, 
That  no  such  door-keeper,  messenger,  or  other  officer 
shall  hold  his  or  their  office  or  offices  l)y  virtue  of  any 
such  appointment,  longer  than  until  the  then  next  law- 
ful meeting  of  our  said  Corporation,  unless  such  person 
or  persons  so  appointed  shall  be  then  approved  of  by 
the  majority  of  such  of  the  members  of  the  said  Cor- 
poration as  shall  then  be  met. — And  we  do  further,  of 
our  especial  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  mo- 
tion, for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  grant  and  ordain, 
that  when  and  as  often  as  the  President,  or  any  Vice 
President,  Treasurer  or  Secretary  of  the  said  Corpora- 
tion, shall  misdemean  himself  in  his  or  their  said  of- 
fices respectively,  and  thereupon  a  complaint  or  charge 
in  writing  shall  be  exhibited  against  him  or  them,  by 
any  member  of  the  said  Corporation,  at  any  legal  meet- 
ing or  meetings  of  the  said  Corporation,  that  it  shall 
and  may  be  lawful  for  the  members  of  the  said  Corpora- 
tion then  met,  or  the  major  part  of  them,  from  time  to 
time,  upon  examination  and  due  proof,  to  suspend  or  dis- 
charge such  President,  Vice  President,  Treasurer  or 
Secretary,  from  their  offices  respectively,  although  the 
yearly  or  other  time  for  their  respective  services  shall 
not  be  expired,  any  thing  before  in  these  presents  con- 


29 

tained  to  the  contrary  thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstand- 
ing.— And  further,  we  do  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Cor- 
poration of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  America,  and  their  successors  for  ever,  that  this 
our  present  Charter  shall  be  deemed,  adjudged,  and  con- 
strued in  all  cases  most  favorably,  and  for  the  best 
benefit  and  advantage  of  our  said  Corporation,  and  for 
promoting  the  good  intentions  and  designs  herein  before 
expressed,  inducing  us  graciously  to  grant  the  same; 
and  that  this  our  present  grant,  being  entered  on  record 
as  herein  after  is  expressed,  or  the  enrolment  thereof, 
shall  be  for  ever  hereafter  good  and  effectual  in  the  law, 
according  to  our  true  intent  and  meaning  hereinbefore 
declared,  without  any  other  license,  grant,  or  confirm- 
ation from  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  hereafter  by 
the  said  Corporation  to  be  had  or  obtained,  notwith- 
standing, the  not  reciting  or  misrecital,  or  not  naming, 
or  misnaming  of  the  aforesaid  offices,  franchises,  privi- 
leges, immunities,  or  other  the  premises,  or  any  of  them, 
and  although  no  writ  of  ad  quo  damnum,  or  other  writs, 
inquisitions,  or  precepts  had  been  upon  this  occasion 
had,  made,  issued,  or  prosecuted,  any  statute,  act,  or- 
dinance, or  provision,  or  other  matter  or  thing  to  the 
contrary  thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstanding.  In  tes- 
timony whereof,  we  have  caused  these  our  letters  to  be 
made  patent,  and  the  great  seal  of  our  said  province  to 
be  hereunto  aflRxed,  and  the  same  to  be  entered  on  re- 
cord in  our  Secretary's  office,  for  our  said  province,  in 
one  of  the  books  of  patents  there  remaining. 

Witness  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  Cadvvallader 
CoLDEN,  Esquire,  our  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  our  said  province  of  New  York,  and 
the  territories  depending  thereon  in  America,  by  and 
with  tlie  advice  and  consent  of  our  Counsel  for  our 
said  province,  at  Fort  George,  in  our  city  of  New 
York,  this  thirteentli  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy,  and  of 
our  reign  the  tenth. 


AN   ACT  ^ 

To  remove  doubts  concerning  the  Corporation  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  to  confirm  the  rights 
and  jJrivileges  thereof 

Passed  the  13tli  April,  1784. 

Preamble.  Whereas  Geoi'ge  the  Third,  king  of  Great  T3ritaiii, 

did,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  seventy,  grant  certain  letters  patent  to 
the  persons  therein  named,  under  tlie  great  seal  of  the 
then  colony  of  New  York,  which  said  letters  patent 
are  in  the  words  following,  that  is  to  say : — 

( I  fere  follows  a  recital  of  the  preceding  Charter.) 

RccitinR  the  pe-  And  whcrcas,  8amuel  Broome,  Jeremiah  Piatt,  John 
wvaro7theCoi-:  ^roouie,  Benjamin  Ledyard,  Thomas  Kandall,  Robert 
poration.  Bowuc,  Dauicl  Pho^nix,  Jacob  Morris, Eliphalet  Brush, 

James  Jarvis,  John  Blagge,  VinerVanZandt,  Stephen 
Sayre,  Jacobus  Van  Zandt,  Nathaniel  Hazard,  Thomas 
Hazard,  Abraham  P.  Lott,  Abraham  Duryee,  William 
Malcom,  John  Alsop,  Isaac  Sears,  James  Beekman, 
Abraham  Lott,  Comfort  Sands,  Joseph  Blackwell, 
Joshua  Sands,  Lawrence  Embree,  George  Embree, 
Gerardus  Duyckinck,  Jun.,  Cornelius  Hay,  Anthony 
(h-iffiths,  Thomas  Tucker,  John  Berrian,  Isaac  Roose- 
velt, John  Franklin,  John  H.  Kip,  Henry  H.  Kip, 
Archibald  Currie,  David  Currie,  and  Jonathan  Law- 
rence, all  of  the  said  city,  Merchants,  have,  by  their 
humble  petition  set  forth,  that  the  said  letters  patent, 
and  the  powers  and  privileges  exercised  and  enjoyed 
under  the  same,  have  greatly  promoted  the  commercial 


31 

interest  of  this  State,  and  that  great  and  daily  incon- 
veniences and  injury  are  suffered  by  the  suspension 
thereof,  and  have  prayed  that  the  said  letters  patent, 
with  all  and  singular  the  power  and  franchises  therein 
contained,  may  be  revived,  confirmed  and  established — 
1.  Be  it  therefore  enacted  hy  the  people  of  the  State 
of  New  Yoi'h,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  and 
it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That 
the  said  letters  patent,  and  all  and  singular  the  powers, 
rights,  privileges,  franchises  and  immunities  therein 
and  thereby  granted,  shall  be,  and  the  same  are  here- 
1)y  ratified  and  confirmed :  and  the  said  letters  patent,  charter  of  the 

Chamber  ofCom- 

and  all  and  every  other  former  rights,  privileges,  fran-  mcrce  contirmefi 
chises,  and  immunities  therein,  and  thereby  granted, 
shall  be  and  remain  in  full  force  and  efficacy,  notwith- 
standing any  non-user  or  mis-user  of  any  of  \he  said  notwithstandmg 

.    ,  ,  .     .,  p.  ,  .  T    .  ...         any  non-user  be- 

powers,  rights,  privileges,  franchises  and  immunities  tween  the  i9th 
heretofore  had,  committed,  done  or  suffered,  between  the  date  oVthis 
the  nineteenth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy -five,  and  the  day  of  the  passing  of 
this  Act.      And  the  said  Samuel  Broome,  Jeremiah  Members  of  the 
Piatt,  John  Broome,  Benjamin  Ledyard,  Thomas  Ran-  of  commence.  ^^ 
dall,  Robert  Bowne,  Daniel  Phoenix,  Jacob  Morris, 
Eliphalet  Brush,  James  Jarvis,  John  Blagge,  Viner 
Van  Zandt,  Stephen  Sayre,  Jacobus  Van  Zandt,  Na- 
thaniel Hazard,  Thomas  Hazard,  Abraham  P.  Lott, 
Abraham    Duryee,  William   Malcom,    John    Alsop, 
Isaac  Sears,  James  Beekman,  Abraham  Lott,  Comfort . 
Sands,  Joseph  Blackwell,  Joshua  Sands,  Lawrence 
Embree,  George  Embree,  Gerardus  Duyckinck,  Jun., 
Cornelius  Ray,  Anthony  Griffiths,  Thomas  Tucker, 
John  Berrian,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  John  Franklin,  John 
H.  Kip,  Henry  H.  Kip,  Archibald  Currie,  David  Cur- 
rie,  and  Jonathan  Lawrence,  shall  and  may  for  ever 
hereafter  remain,  continue,  and  be  a  body  corporate 
and  politic  in  deed,  fact  and  name,  by  the  name  of 
"The  Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  Name  of  the  pre- 
OF  THE  State  of  New  York,"  and  by  that  name  to  comme?^!^^'  ""^ 
sue,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  and  to  answer  and  to  be 
answered. 


32 

2.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforc- 

Names   of   the  said,   That  the  said  John  Alsop  shall  be  the  present 

Presideril'  Tro!a-  President,  the   above  named  Isaac  Sears,   the  present 

smer  and  Secre-  yj^^  President;    that  the  above  named  John  Broom, 

the   present  Treasurer,    and   the   above   named   John 

Blagge,  the  present  Secretary  of  the  said  Corporation, 

who  shall  hold,  possess,  and  enjoy  their  said  respective 

Their    eontiiui    officcs,  until  the  first  Tucsday  in  May  now  next  en- 

ance  in  office.  .  •  i  <>     i  •  i 

suing;  and  in  case  any  or  either  of  the  said  persons 
hereby  nominated  and  appointed  to  the  respective 
offices  aforesaid,  shall  happen  to  die,  or  shall  neglect 
or  refuse  to  act  in  or  execute,  or  shall  be  removed  from 
such  office  or  offices  respectively  before  the  said  first 
Tuesday  in  May  next,  that  then,  and  in  every  such  case, 
it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  members  of  the  said 
body  corporate  to  meet  at  such  time  and  times,  and  at 

When  and  how  .  ,  .        ,  •  i      •  i  in 

other  officers       such  phicc  and  placcs  Within  the  said  city  as  they  shall 

shall  be  elected   ^        ,  .  ,  ,  . 

to  the  Presiden-  lor  that  purposc  appoint,  and  upon  such  notices  or  sum- 
mons as  have  heretofore  been  used  and  established  by 
the  said  body  corporate,  and  then  and  there,  by  the  ma- 
jority of  such  as  shall  so  meet,  to  elect  and  choose  other 
or  others  to  the  said  office  or  offices  respectively,  in  the 
place  of  him  or  them  so  dying,  or  neglecting  or  refusing 
to  act,  or  being  removed,  in  the  manner  heretofore  used 
in  the  annual  elections  of  the  like  officers,  which  person 
or  persons  so  elected  and  chosen,  shall  enjoy  and  exer- 
cise the  said  office  or  offices,  and  all  and  singular  the 
privileges  and  powers  thereto  belonging  or  appertaining, 
until  the  said  first  Tuesday  in  May  next. 

3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  the  Corporation  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  their  successors, 

All  former  rights  shall  and  may  for  ever  hereafter,  peaceably  have,  hold, 

<fcc.,  to  be  enjoy-  i         .  n  i  ,i         •    i  ti         • 

ed  by  the  Cor-  usc,  and  cnjoy  all  and  every  the  rights,  powers,  liberties, 

poration.  ...  /»  i  •  i        i 

privileges,  iranchises,  usages,  lands,  tenements,  estates 
andhereditaments,  which  have  heretofore,  by  virtue  of 
the  above  recited  Charter,  been  given  or  granted  unto 
the  said  Corporation,  by  the  name  of  the  Corporation  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
in  America. 


BY-LAWS 


OF 


As  Amended,  Jnly  5,  1§55. 


ARTICLE  I. 
The  members  of  the    "Chamber  of   Commerce  of  the 
State  of  New-York,"  shall  meet  on  the  first  Thursday  in 
each  month,  to  transact  such  business  as  may  be  laid  before 
them. 

ARTICLE  11. 

The  meetings  of  this  Corporation  shall  be  at  one  o'clock  P. 
M.,  unless  otherwise  determined  by  the  President. 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  officers  of  the  Chamber  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  an- 
nually, at  the  first  regular  meeting  in  May,  and  a  majority  of 
the  votes  given,  shall  be  necessary,  in  each  instance,  to  con- 
stitute a  choice.  The  persons  so  elected  shall  take  the  oath  or 
affirmation  prescribed  by  the  Charter,  and  shall  continue  in  of- 
fice for  the  space  of  one  year,  or  until  their  successors  have  be- 
come duly  qualified  according  to  the  Charter.  In  all  cases 
where  officers  elected  decline  to  accept,  or  resign,  there  shall  be 
an  election  held  to  supply  any  such  vacancy,  at  such  time  as 
the  presiding  officer,  or  a  vote  of  the  Chamber  may  direct.  No 
person  shall  be  eligible  for  the  office  of  President,  Vice  Presi- 
dent, or  Treasurer,  for  more  than  three  years  in  succession,  un- 
less by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Chamber. 


34 


ARTICLE  IV. 

Every  person  desirous  of  becoming  a  member  of  this  Cor- 
poration, shall  be  nominated  at  one  stated  meeting,  and  balloted 
for  at  the  next  regular  meeting,  and  if  five  or  more  negatives 
shall  appear  against  any  candidate,  he  cannot  be  admitted  a 
member,  nor  be  again  proposed  until  after  the  expiration  of  a 
year  from  the  time  of  such  rejection. 

ARTICLE  V. 

Every  person  who  may  hereafter  be  admitted  a  member  of 
this  Corporation,  shall  pay  to  the  Treasurer,  for  the  use  there- 
of, the  sum  of  ten  dollars,  and  every  member  shall  pay  three 
dollars  annual  dues,  payable  on  the  1st  of  May. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

The  President,  with  the  advice  of  the  members  of  this  Cham- 
ber, shall  appoint  the  place  of  meeting :  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  President  to  superintend  the  afi'airs  of  this  Corporation ;  all 
motions  relative  to  business  or  adjournment  shall  be  addressed 
to  him;  and  he  shall  sign  the  annual  accounts  of  the  Treasurer, 
when  the  same  shall  have  been  duly  audited. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  Vice  Presidents,  in  the  order  of  seniority,  shall,  in  the 
absence  of  the  President,  have  the  same  power  and  authority 
that  the  President  possesses  when  personally  present. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  President,  or  in  his  absence  either  of  the  Vice  Presi- 
dents, shall,  on  the  requisition  of  five  members,  call  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Chamber,  on  such  days  and  at  such  hours  as  may 
be  deemed  expedient :  provided  always^  that  the  business  to  be 
acted  on  shall  be  designated  in  the  notice  of  such  meeting,  and 
that  none  other  be  acted  on  but  by  unanimous  consent. 

ARTICLE  IX. 
The  Treasurer  shall  enter  an  account  of  all  moneys  received 
and  expended  by  him  for  the  use  of  this  Chamber :  his  account 


35 

shall  be  fairly  stated,  and  produced  for  the  inspection  of  the 
members,  at  every  annual  meeting ;  it  shall  be  audited  on  or 
before  the  first  Tuesday  in  May,  in  every  year,  and  signed  by 
the  auditors  who  may  be  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  coun- 
tersigned by  the  President ;  the  Treasurer  for  the  last  year  shall 
deliver  over  to  his  successor  the  cash  remaining  in  his  hands,  as 
also  any  stock  or  securities,  the  property  of  this  Chamber,  to- 
gether with  the  books,  chest  and  key ;  or  in  the  absence  of  the 
Treasurer  elect,  the  same  shall  be  delivered  to  the  President. 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  Secretary  shall  keep  a  fair  register  of  all  proceedings, 
orders,  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Chamber,  which  shall  be 
regularly  entered  in  the  book  of  minutes ;  in  the  absence  of  the 
Secretary,  the  President  shall  appoint  one  of  the  members  to 
officiate  in  his  place  for  the  time  being. 

ARTICLE  XI. 

No  member  of  this  Corporation,  after  having  appeared  in  the 
Chamber,  shall  leave  the  same  previous  to  adjournment,  with- 
out permission  from  the  President. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

There  shall  be  a  Standing  Committee  for  determining  such 
mercantile  disputes  as  may  be  submitted  to  it,  to  be  styled  the 
Committee  of  Arbitration.  This  Committee  shall  consist 
of  five  members,  of  whom  one  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  at  each 
annual  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  to  serve  as  Chairman  for  the 
year  ensuing;  of  the  other  four  members,  to  be  elected  also  by 
ballot,  one  shall  retire  in  rotation  every  month,  the  vacancy  be- 
ing filled  at  every  monthly  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  by  ballot- 
ing for  a  new  member.  Neither  the  Chairman,  nor  any  mem- 
ber of  the  Committee,  shall  be  eligible  for  a  new  term,  till  after 
the  interval  of  one  year  from  the  close  of  his  last  term  of  ser- 
vice ;  but  in  case  a  vacancy  is  not  duly  supplied,  the  retiring 
member  shall  hold  over  till  an  election  for  this  purpose  takes 
place. 

There  shall  be  also  a  Standing  Committee,  to  be  styled  the 


36 

Committee  of  Appeal,  to  which  an  appeal  may  be  made  from 
the  decision  of  the  Committee  of  Arbitration^  under  such  regula- 
tions as  the  Chamber  may  at  any  time  adopt. 

The  Committee  of  Appeals  shall  consist  of  the  President  of 
the  Chamber,  the  first  and  second  Vice  Presidents"  and  the 
Treasurer,  together  with  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Arbitration.  The  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  shall  serve  as  the 
stated  Clerk  of  the  Committee  of  Appeals.  The  Committee  of 
Arbitration  shall  choose  their  own  Clerk,  either  in  or  out  of 
their  number.  A  majority  of  each  Committee  shall  constitute 
a  quorum.  Each  Committee  shall  keep  minutes  of  its  proceed- 
ings and  decisions,  which  shall  be  open  to  the  inspection  of  the 
members  of  the  Chamber. 

ARTICLE  XIIL 

The  Committee  of  Arbitration  shall  meet  whenever  business 
requires,  at  such  hour  and  place  as  they  may  find  most  conve- 
nient; and  all  parties  having  mercantile  disputes  to  be  referred 
to  the  Committee,  shall  make  statements  of  their  cases  in  writ- 
ing, directed  to  the  Chairman.  Each  party  shall  have  the  right 
of  producing  witnesses,  under  the  regulation  and  direction  of 
the  Committee.  In  all  cases  each  party  shall  pay  such  fee  as 
the  Committee  may  deem  reasonable.  In  the  absence  of  the 
Chailrman' the  Committee  may  elect  a  Chairman  ^ro  tern. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

No  decision  of  the  Committee  of  Arbitration  shall  be  ap- 
pealed from  in  any  case  in  which  the  amount  involved  does  not 
exceed  $100,  (one  hundred  dollars,)  nor  in  any  case  which  has 
been  unanimously  decided  by  the  whole  Committee,  unless  the 
amount  exceeds  $500,  (five  hundred  dollars.)  In  all  other  cases 
an  appeal  may  be  made  by  either  party,  provided  a  notice  of  such 
appeal  be  served  upon  \\\Qi  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arbi- 
tration, within  ten  days  of  the  delivery  of  the  decision  of  the 
Committee  to  the  parties  interested.  These  conditions  being 
complied  with,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arbitration 
shall  deliver  \h^  documents  pertaining  to  the  case,  together 
with  a  copy  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Committee,  to  the  Secre- 


37 

tary  of  the  Chamber,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  thereupon  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Appeal. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

Bills  against  the  Chamber  shall  be  presented  at  a  regular 
meeting,  by  the  Secretary,  and  if  approved,  shall  be  certified 
by  the  Secretary,  and  left  with  the  Treasurer  for  payment. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 
A  Standing  Committee  of  five  members  shall  be  annually  ap- 
pointed, in  such  manner  as  the  Chamber  may  direct,  to  visit, 
from  time  to  time,  the  library  of  the  "Mercantile  Library  As- 
sociation;" to  make  inquiries  into  its  affairs,  with  the  con- 
sent of  its  directors,  and  to  report  thereon,  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary  to  this  Corporation. 

ARTICLE  XVII. 

The  President,  or  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  members  present,  shall  have  power  to  adjourn  a 
meeting,  provided  a  number  sufficient  for  transacting  business 
do  not  attend. 

ARTICLE  XVIII. 

To  preserve  order,  and  to  expedite  the  business  of  the  Cham- 
ber, every  member  who  has  proposals  to  make,  or  reasons  for,  or 
objections  to  offer  against  any  proposition  presented,  shall  rise 
and  address  the  President;  and  no  person  shall  interrupt  an- 
other while  speaking;  and  all  motions,  before  they  can  be  de- 
bated, shall  be  reduced  to  writing. 

ARTICLE  XTX. 

No  rules,  regulations  or  orders  for  the  government  of  this 
Chamber,  shall  be  binding  on  the  members  thereof,  unless  pro- 
posed in  writing  at  a  preceding  stated  meeting,  in  order  that  the 
general  sense  of  the  Corporation  may  be  taken. 

ARTICLE  XX. 
Nine  members,  of  which  number  the  President  or  one  of  the 


38 

Vice  Presidents  must  always  be  one,  shall  be  necessary  to  form  a 
quorum,  in  order  to  transact  business,  and  to  ballot  for  members. 

ARTICLE  XXI. 

No  persons  can  be  admitted  members  of  this  Corporation, 
but  merchants  and  others  whose  avocations  are  connected  with 
the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  country,  and  who  are  American 
citizens;  or  continue  members,  if  not  residents  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  or  regularly  transacting  business  there ;  but  the 
privilege  contained  in  Article  XII.  may  be  extended  to  persons 
other  than  those  who  are  members,  or  to  persons  not  qualified 
to  become  members  of  this  Corporation,  subject  to  such  regula- 
tions as  the  Chamber  may,  from  time  to  time,  direct. 


HISTORY 


NE¥  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE, 

^VITH 

NOTICES 

OF 

SOME  OF  ITS  MOST  DISTINGUISHED  MEMBERS. 
AN  ANNIVERSARY  DISCOURSE, 

ORIGINALLY  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  NEW  YORK  HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY,  NOVEMBER  21,  1848. 

REVISED,  ENLARGED,  AND  BROUGHT  DOWN  TO  MAY,  1856. 

BY  CHARLES  KING. 


41 


TO  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE. 

Gentlemen — 

In  preparing  a  new  edition  of  tlie  historical  sketcli  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  appeared  some  eight 
years  ago,  in  the  form  of  an  address  before  the  New- York 
Historical  Society,  and  which  was  then  published  by  your 
order,  I  comply  very  readily  with  a  request,  with  which 
you  recently  honored  me,  to  bring  down  the  memoir  to  the 
present  date. 

The  sketch  is  mainly  in  the  shape  in  which  it  first  ap- 
peared, the  additions  being  for  the  most  part  of  a  date  sub- 
sequent to  that  at  which  the  address  was  delivered,  includ- 
ing biographical  notices  of  the  several  presidents  who  in 
the  interval  have  occupied  the  Chair. 

I  had  for  a  time  cherished  a  project  of  expanding  the 
sketch  into  a  formal  history  of  the  Chamber,  with  copious 
extracts  from  the  many  able  papers  on  Finance  and  Com- 
merce, which  from  time  to  time  were  presented  to  and  act- 
ed upon  by  it;  but  after  some  preparation  and  more 
reflection,  I  found  these  would  lead  me  too  far,  and  that  in 
making  a  large  volume,  as  I  must  have  done,  I  might  di- 
minish rather  than  add  to  the  interest  with  which  a  more 
sketchy,  though,  as  far  as  it  goes,  nevertheless,  accurate  and 
faithful,  memoir  of  the  Chamber  might  hope  to  be  received. 

I  confess,  however,  that  it  was  not  without  reluctance  that 
I  abandoned  the  plan,  especially  of  giving  extracts  from 
reports,  made  at  different  times  to  the  Chamber,  upon  sub- 
jects connected  with  Currency,  Tariff  duties,  the  "Ware- 
housing system.  Inspection  laws,  &c. — subjects  yet  open 
and  undetermined — and  which  in  these  reports  are  often 
treated  with  a  weight  of  reasoning  and  finish  of  style  that 
would  do  honor  to  any  body. 


42 

Perhaps  when  the  rust  of  another  century  shall  rest 
upon  these  records,  the  merchant  princes  of  that  day  may 
desire  to  see  and  know  what  the  early  founders  of  their 
craft  thought  and  said  on  questions  that  may  even  then  be 
still  unsettled,  and  may  cause  to  be  sought  out  and  pub- 
lished for  general  information  what  now  is  shut  up  in  books 
sealed  to  the  public  eye. 

Bear  witk  me,  gentlemen,  as  one  who  estimates  most 
highly  the  importance  and  the  dignity  of  the  mercantile 
profession,  if,  before  concluding  this  introductory  notice,  I 
take  leave  to  repeat  emphatically  the  expression  of  regret 
embodied  in  the  Memoir,  that  the  interest  of  the  body  of 
merchants  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  not  what  for- 
merly it  was,  nor  at  all  commensurate  with  the  great  ser- 
vices rendered  in  times  past  by  that  body,  both  to  com- 
merce and  to  the  country — nor  with  the  proper  pride  which 
should  be  felt  in  belonging  to  an  association  of  such  illus- 
trious annals  and  such  capabilities  for  good. 

Yet  there  are  recent  indications,  as  I  gladly  learn,  of  re- 
newed interest  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the  Chamber 
in  its  proceedings,  not  the  least  significant  evidence  of 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  contemplated  quarterly  meet- 
ings in  the  evening,  for  the  discussion  of  important  ques- 
tions pending  before  the  Chamber. 

Efficiency,  and  ihat  which  so  much  contributes  to  efficien- 
cy— an  honorable  esprit  de  corps — will  surely  be  promoted 
by  such  meetings. 

I  conclude  with  expressing  the  hope  that  with  the  grow- 
ing wealth  and  intelligence  of  this  great  commercial  me- 
tropolis, will  one  day  come  the  desire  to  emulate  at  once, 
and  to  commemorate  those  merchants  of  its  earlier  days, 
by  giving  to  the  Chamber  which  they  founded  a  fitting 
habitation,  and  restoring  its  deliberations  and  acts  to  their 
pristine  influence  and  honor. 

I  am,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obe'd  serv't, 

CHAELES  KING. 


HISTORY. 


The  Chamber  op  Commerce  of  New  York,  is  my  theme. 
The  date  of  the  Association  reaches  far  back  in  our  young 
annals,  and  is  older  by  many  years  than  the  Republic,  and 
the  Constitution  which  makes  us  one  people. 

It  was  instituted  by  voluntary  agreement  of  the  leading 
merchants  of  this  city,  in  the  year  1768.  It  is,  therefore, 
antecedent  in  its  origin  to  the  Revolution  which  emancipated 
the  Colonies. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  significant  of  the  method 
and  care  which  are  such  essential  elements  in  the  commercial 
character,  that  from  the  day  of  its  origin  until  this  day,  the 
Records  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  have  been  preserved 
unbroken  and  unmutilated,  and  it  is  to  the  Books  of  Minutes 
of  the  Chamber  that  I  am  indebted  for  very  much  of  whatever 
may  prove  attractive  in  this  essay. 

The  period  in  which  this  Association  was  formed,  was  one 
of  deep  interest.  For  several  preceding  years,  the  feelings  of 
.the  Colonists  had  been  deeply  roused  by  the  pretension  of  the 
Mother  Country  to  impose  taxes  upon  the  Colonies — the  Stamp 
Act,  which  was  enacted  early  in  the  year  1765,  had  excited 
the  spirit  of  a  people  habituated  to  consider  representation  as 
the  counterpart  of  taxation,  and  who  not  being  represented  in 
the  British  Parliament,  would  not  consent  to  be  taxed  by  it. 

New  York  took  the  lead  in  opposition,  and  among  the  per- 
sons prominent  in  that  opposition,  were  several  distinguished 
merchants,  whom  we  shall  soon  meet  with  as  among  the  foun- 
ders and  officers  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 


44  HISTORY  OP  THE  CHAMBER. 

The  Stamp  Act  was  to  take  effect  on  Nov.  1,  1765.  But 
previous  to  that  day,  the  first  Congress  of  the  American  Colo- 
nies was  assembled  in  this  city,  on  the  7th  October,  "in  oppo- 
sition," as  the  journal  of  the  proceedings  has  it,  "to  the  ty- 
rannical acts  of  the  British  Parliament." 

It  concerns  not  a  little  the  honor  of  New  York,  and  essenti- 
ally the  renown  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  that  the  moving 
spirits  who  prompted  the  assembling  of  this  Congress  should 
be  identified.  It  stands  as  the  record  of  history,  that  the  first 
Congress  of  the  American  Colonies — a  Congress  not  unaptly 
characterized  as  the  Egg  of  the  Republic,  ovum  RepuhUcce — 
was  assembled  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  and  literally  this  is  true.  But  antecedent  to 
this  recommendation,  which  bears  date  June,  1765,  a  Corres- 
ponding Committee  of  the  New  York  Assembly,  appointed  in 
October,  1764,  had  made  the  proposal  for  holding  a  Congress 
of  Delegates,  and  upon  their  application  the  project  was  agi- 
tated in  different  Legislatures.  Although,  therefore,  the  final 
action  took  place  upon  the  explicit  recommendation  of  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  that  recommendation  was  influenc- 
ed and  hastened,  if  not  determined,  by  the  New  York  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence.  Who  composed  that  Committee, 
and  what  relation  its  members  bear  to  the  subject  now  to  be 
treated,  will  appear  in  the  sequel. 

The  first  measure  of  the  Congress  of  'Q5  was  a  Declaration 
of  the  Rights  and  Grievances  of  the  Colonies,  a  paper  asserting 
for  the  Colonists  all  the  rights  and  liberties  of  subjects  bom 
within  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain ;  among  which  are  the  ex- 
clusive power  to  tax  themselves,  and  the  privilege  of  a  trial 
by  jury. 

At  this  time  Lieut.  Governor  Colden  exercised  the  functions 
of  Governor,  and  made  himself  exceedingly  obnoxious  to  the 
people  of  New  York  by  his  determination  to  enforce  the  Stamp 
Act.  The  stamps  had  arrived  in  a  merchant  ship ;  but  find- 
ing the  exasperation  so  great,  they  were  transferred  from  it  to 
one  of  the  ships  of  war  in  the  harbor,  and  subsequently  for 
safe  keeping  to  the  Governor's  house  within  the  fort,  which 
was  a  place  of  some  strength,  and  under  the  guns  moreover 
of  the  ships  of  war. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  45 

On  the  31st  October,  (Congress  then  sitting,)  the  merchants 
had  a  meeting,  and  resolved  not  to  import  goods  from  Eng- 
land. This  decisive  step — first  taken  by  the  New  York  mer- 
chants— was  followed  elsewhere,  and  led  to  a  general  non-in- 
tercourse. The  next  evening  a  large  concourse  of  people  as- 
sembled in  the  fields,  where  the  Park  now  is,  and  hung  the 
Lieut.  Governor  in  effigy,  while  another  party  broke  open  the 
carriage  house  of  the  Governor,  under  the  muzzle  of  the  guns 
of  the  fort,  drew  forth  his  carriage,  and,  tearing  up  the  wood- 
en palings  which  surrounded  the  Bowling  Green,  made  a  bon- 
fire of  them,  into  which  was  thrust  the  carriage,  with  another 
effigy  of  the  Lieut.  Governor  seated  in  it,  to  be  consumed. 
It  is  certainly  to  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  the  unwillingness  of 
Gov.  Golden  to  resort  to  harsh  measures,  that  these  popular 
excesses  were  permitted  to  be  consummated  under  the  guns  of 
Fort  George,  where  was  a  garrison  amply  sufficient  to  sweep 
the  rioters  from  the  streets. 

These  and  other  demonstrations,  however,  were  decisive. 
The  Governor  consented  to  give  up  the  obnoxious  stamps,  and 
on  the  5th  November,  the  Common  Council,  through  their 
Mayor,  John  Cruger,  received  from  the  Governor  all  the  pack- 
ages of  stamps  sent  out  from  England — and  thus  the  people 
triumphed. 

Early  in  the  next  year,  1766,  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed, 
under  the  influence  of  the  first  Pitt,  (afterward  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham,) and  the  joy  diffused  in  America  by  that  event  caused  the 
people  to  overlook  for  a  time  the  declaratory  act  accompanying 
the  repeal,  which  asserted  the  right  and  power  of  the  Imperial 
Parliament  to  bind  the  Colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

The  delight  of  the  people  of  New  York  with  the  repeal  of 
the  Stamp  Act  was  excessive.  On  23d  June,  1766,  the  Le- 
gislature of  the  Colony  voted  that  an  Equestrian  Statue  be 
erected  in  the  Bowling  Green,  to  George  III.,  to  perpetuate  to 
the  latest  posterity  the  deep  sense  had  of  his  goodness.  On 
the  motion  of  John  Cruger,  a  delegate  from  the  city,  and  act- 
ing under  the  instructions  of  his  constituents,  an  appropriation 
was  also  made  for  a  statue  of  Chatham,  which  was  placed  in 
Wall  Street,  at  the  junction  of  William  Street,  on  the  7th 
September,  1770.  On  the  south  side  of  the  pedestal  was  this 
inscription ; 


46  HISTOKY  OF  THE  CHAMBEE. 

"This  Statue  of  the  Right  Honorable  WILLIAM  PITT, 
Earl  of  Chatham,  was  erected  as  a  public  testimony  of  the 
grateful  sense  the  Colony  of  New  York  retains  of  the  many 
eminent  services  he  rendered  to  America,  particularly  in  pro- 
moting the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  A.  D.,  1770. 

Neither  the  statues  nor  the  gratitude  of  those  who  erected 
them,  outlived  the  generation  that  voted  them.  The  marble 
statue  of  Pitt  was  tumbled  from  its  pedestal,  the  head  was 
broken  from  the  body,  and  the  mutilated  trunk  had,  until 
within  a  few  years,  been  thrown  among  the  rubbish  of  the 
public  yard  of  the  Corporation. 

The  statue  of  King  George,  being  of  lead,  served  a  better 
turn.  It  was  broken  into  pieces  during  the  Revolutionary  war, 
sent  up  to  Connecticut,  where,  in  the  family  of  the  late  Oliver 
Wolcott,  the  ladies  assisting,  the  metal  was  run  into  bullets 
to  be  used  against  the  troops  of  the  same  King  George. 

Eighty-one  years  ago  commenced  the  existence  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  There  are  y£t  living  some  few — very 
few — who  were  in  being  with  the  men  who  founded  this  Asso- 
ciation; there  survive  very  many  of  the  relatives  and  descen- 
dants of  those  founders,  and  for  all  it  will  be  a  natural  desire 
to  know  who  were  the  merchants  of  that  distant  day  that  gave 
form  and  vitality  to  a  Corporation  which  has  exercised,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  no  small  influence,  not  only  upon  the  mercantile 
character  and  prosperity  of  this  city,  but  upon  the  political 
destinies  of  the  nation.  In  deference  to  such  feeling,  the 
annexed  extract  from  the  first  Book  of  Minutes  is  presented, 
setting  forth  the  names  of  the  founders,  the  objects  proposed 
to  be  accomplished,  and  the  rules  for  the  government  of  the 
Chamber : 

"  WJiereas,  mercantile  societies  have  been  found  very  useful 
in  trading  cities,  for  promoting  and  encouraging  Commerce, 
supporting  Industry,  adjusting  disputes  relative  to  trade  and 
navigation,  and  procuring  such  laws  and  regulations  as  may 
be  found  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  trade  in  general. 

"For  which  purpose,  and  to  establish  such  a  society  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  the  following  persons  convened  on  the  first 
Tuesday  in,  and  being  the  5th  day  of,  April,  1758  : 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  47 

John  Cruger,  Thomas  White, 

Elias  Desbrosses,  Miles  Sherbrooke, 

James  Jauncey,  Walter  Franklin, 

Jacob  Walton,  Robert  Ross  Waddle, 

Robert  Murray,  Acheson  Thompson, 

Hugh  Wallace,  Lawrence  Kortright, 

George  Folliot,  Thomas  Randel, 

William  Walton,  William  McAdam, 

Samuel  Verplanck,  Isaac  Low, 

Theophylact  Bache,  Anthony  Van  Dam, 

who  agreed  that  the  said  Society  of  Merchants  should  consist 
of  a  President,  Vice  President,  Treasurer,  Secretary,  and  such 
Merchants  as  already  are,  or  hereafter  may  become,  members 
thereof,  to  be  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  The  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce.  The  members  present  unani- 
mously chose  the  following  officers  for  this  year,  to  commence 
the  first  Tuesday  of  May  next: — John  Cruger,  President; 
Hugh  Wallace,  Vice  President;  Elias  Desbrosses,  Treasurer; 
Anthony  Van  Dam,  Secretary." 

The  Society  then  proceeded  to  adopt  their  rules,  which,  in 
substance,  were : 

1.  Society  to  meet  the  first  Tuesday  in  every  month  for  the 
transaction  of  business,  and  to  establish  such  rules  for  the 
order  and  good  government  of  the  Society  as  they  may  think 
proper  and  find  necessary. 

2.  On  the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  August,  November  and 
February,  a  quarterly  meeting  to  be  held,  when  all  accounts 
are  to  be  settled  and  new  members  be  balloted  for. 

3.  Officers  to  be  chosen  annually,  by  ballot,  on  first  Tuesday 
of  May,  and  to  hold  one  year.  Admission  fee  of  members, 
five  Spanish  dollars,  and  quarterly  payment  of  one  dollar. 
Members  to  be  bound  to  comply  with  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Society,  of  which  entry  is  to  be  made  in  books  kept  for 
the  purpose,  on  pain  of  being  stricken  from  the  list  of  mem- 
bers. 

4.  Candidates  for  admission  to  give  their  names  to  the 
President  on  the  first  day  of  the  month  preceding  a  quarterly 
meeting,  the  decision  to  be  by  ballot,  three  nays  exclude.  A 
person  thus  excluded  cannot  be  re-nominated  during  the  term 


48  HISTOEY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

of  the  President  under  whom  he  was  excluded,  but  may  be 
presented  afterward.  A  person  three  times  rejected  never  to 
be  admitted. 

5.  Eoom  for  meeting  to  be  provided  by  the  Treasurer  at  the 
cost  of  the  members,  so  that  the  cost  do  not  exceed  one  shil- 
ling for  each. 

6.  The  Treasurer  to  provide  a  strong  chest  wherein  to  de- 
posit their  cash,  books  and  papers,  with  three  different  good 
locks,  the  key  of  one  to  be  kept  by  the  President,  another  by 
the  Treasurer,  and  the  third  by  the  Secretary ;  the  chest,  for 
the  present,  to  be  kept  by  the  Treasurer. 

7.  Twenty-one  members  to  be  a  quorum  for  business,  of  whom 
the  President  or  Vice  President  always  to  be  one. 

8.  President  to  appoint  place  of  meeting.  Nothing  to  be 
done  without  him,  and  he  to  sign  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  and 
generally  superintend  the  affairs  of  the  Society. 

9.  The  Vice  President,  in  the  absence  of  the  President,  to 
have  all  his  power,  keep  his  key,  &c. 

10  and  11,  regulate  the  duties  of  the  Treasurer  and  Sec- 
retary. 

12.  Exacts  a  fine  of  two  shillings  for  non-attendance  at 
monthly  meetings,  d^n^four  for  non-attendance  at  the  quarterly 
meetings,  unless  disabled  by  sickness  or  absence  from  the  city 
at  a  greater  distance  than  six  miles. 

13.  Authorises  the  President  to  appoint  a  Doorkeeper. 

14.  No  new  regulations  to  be  made  except  when  proposed 
at  a  preceding  meeting. 

15.  President,  or  in  his  absence,  the  Vice  President,  may, 
on  any  emergency,  call  the  Chamber  together;  the  hour  of 
meeting  to  be  always  six,  P.  M. 

The  following  gentlemen,  members  of  the  Society,  not  be- 
ing present  at  the  meeting,  assented  to  these  rules  : 

John  Alsop,  Henry  White, 

Philip  Livingston,  James  McEvers. 

From  this  day  forward  the  meetings  appear  to  have  been 
punctually  attended.  The  minutes  are  carefully  written  up, 
and  they  uniformly  record,  not  only  the  names  of  the  members 
present,  but  those  of  the  absentees,  with  the  cause  of  ab- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  49 

sence ;  as,  for  instance,  on  3d  May,  '68,  we  find  this  entry  of 
absentees : 

John  Cruger,  President,  not  well. 
Wm.  Walton,  Jr.,  in  Connecticut. 
Wm.  McAdam,  in  the  Gout,  (so  recorded.) 
James  McEvers,  not  well. 
Phil.  Livingston. 

It  was  also  resolved  on  that  day,  that  the  meetings  be  held  at 
Bolton  and  Sigel's — of  which  spot  I  have  not  been  able  to  find 
a  trace. 

At  the  monthly  meeting  in  June,  in  order  to  insure  punctu- 
ality to  the  hour  of  meeting,  it  was  determined  that  a  fine  of 
one  shilling  be  paid  by  each  absentee  at  the  hour  of  meeting, 
6  o'clock,  and  the  subsequent  minutes  record  regularly  the 
names  of  those  thus  fined,  as  well  as  the  names  of  absentees. 

The  Chamber  already  began  to  occupy  itself  with  subjects 
of  large  bearing  and  general  concern.  A  depreciated  currency 
was  at  that  period  one  of  the  evils  of  the  times,  and  as  each  Co- 
lony issued  its  own  currency,  confusion  and  discredit  ensued. 

The  Paper  currency  of  Pennsylvania  seems  to  have  been 
particularly  objectionable,  and  a  resolution  for  discouraging  its 
passing  in  the  Colony  of  New  York  was  only  lost  by  three  votes, 
on  the  5th  July,  and  subsequently  it  was  referred  for  conside- 
ration whether  some  method  should  not  be  fallen  upon  "to  es- 
tablish a  paper  currency  in  this  city." 

At  the  same  meeting  another  quite  as  questionable  proposi- 
tion was  submitted,  for  regulating  the  price  of  flour  and  bread 
casks.  This  was,  however,  so  much  in  harmony  with  the  in- 
terests, as  was  believed,  of  consumers,  and  so  entirely,  as  seems 
to  have  been  assumed,  within  the  competency  of  the  Chamber 
to  control,  that  at  the  August  meeting  "it  was  unanimously 
agreed,  that  from  and  after  the  15th  inst.,  no  member  of  this 
Society  will  give  more  than  25*.  Q>d.  per  ton  for  flour  and  bread 
casks,  including  nailing."  The  millers  and  flour  dealers  hav- 
ing refused  compliance  with  the  terms  of  this  resolution,  it 
was,  at  the  October  meeting,  decided  by  the  Chamber  to  send 
Mr.  Wm.  Neilson  to  Philadelphia,  there  to  purchase  from  1,500 
to  2,000  barrels  of  flour,  to  be  shipped  to  New  York.  Mem- 
bers to  be  supplied  with  what  they  need,  and  the  balance  to  be 
sold.  7 


60  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

At  the  next  meeting  in  November,  it  was  ordered  that  each 
member  pay  <£50  to  Mr.  Lewis  Pintard,  who  went  to  Philadel- 
phia in  lieu  of  Mr.  Neilson,  toward  the  purchase  of  flour — the 
same  to  be  replaced  by  him  out  of  the  sales  of  flour,  the  profit 
or  loss  to  be  ratably  shared.  This  vigorous  proceeding  brought 
the  flour  dealers  and  bakers  to  terms ;  a  deputation  from  them 
attended  the  Chamber,  and  after  vainly  endeavoring  to  induce 
that  body  to  reconsider  their  resolution,  and  agree  to  the  prices 
of  28*.  instead  of  25s.  6d.,  the  maximum  named  by  the  Cham- 
ber, the  flour  dealers  gave  in,  and  agreed  to  charge  no  more 
than  2bs.  Qid. 

The  cargo  of  flour  from  Philadelphia  was  nevertheless  im- 
ported and  sold  by  order  of  the  Chamber,  by  Mr.  Van  Dam, 
their  Secretary,  who  was  allowed  2j  per  cent,  commissions. 

The  subject  of  damages  on  Protested  Bills  of  Exchange, 
received  early  attention. 

On  the  1st  November,  a  Committee,  consisting  of  Hugh 
Wallace,  Samuel  Verplanck,  Isaac  Low,  Jacob  Walton,  and 
John  Moore,  to  whom  had  been  referred  the  question  as  to 
damages  on  Inland  and  West  India  Bills,  reported,  that  for 
Inland  Bills,  5  per  cent.,  and  for  Bills  on  or  from  the  West  In- 
dies, 10  per  cent,  damages  be  paid. 

The  Chamber  adopted  the  Report,  and  resolved  that  its 
members  would  be  governed  thereby,  and  that  the  "full  amount 
of  the  bill,  with  the  stipulated  damages  in  full  for  re-exchange, 
cost  of  protest,  postage,  &c.,  is  due  and  payable  immediately 
on  the  return  of  the  bill  with  protest." 

It  was  referred  to  the  same  committee  to  inquire  and  report 
at  the  next  meeting,  as  to  whether  the  20  per  cent.  *'now  gen- 
erally paid"  on  protested  bills  on  Europe,  be  "in  full  compen- 
sation for  damages,  costs  of  protests,  postage,"  &c.,  and  wheth- 
er to  be  received  in  money  by  the  holders  of  the  protested  bill 
at  the  Exchange  current  when  it  shall  be  returned,  or  in  a  bill 
of  exchange  with  the  damages  added. 

At  the  December  meeting,  this  committee  reported  that  20 
per  cent,  ought  to  be  paid  on  European  bills,  in  full  for  all  dam- 
ages, re-exchanges,  cost  of  protest,  postage,  &c.,  and  that  all 
European  bills  returned  protested,  ought  to  be  paid  immedi- 
ately on  return  of  said  bill  with  proper  protest,  together  with 
the  20  per  cent,  damages,  in  money,  at  the  crurent  exchange  in 


HISTORY   OP  THE   CHAMBER.  51 

New  York,  without  regard  to  the  Exchange  at  which  said  bill 
was  bought  or  sold. 

The  Chamber  unanimously  adopted  that  report. 

The  subject  of  Inspection  Laws  early  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  Chamber,  and  at  the  December  meeting  a  Report  from 
a  Committee  was  adopted,  recommending  that  application  be 
made  to  the  Legislature,  for  the  appointment  of  a  single  In- 
spector of  Flour,  and  a  single  Inspector  of  Ashes,  with  power 
to  each  to  name  his  own  deputies,  as  much  more  likely  to  attain 
the  object  of  all  inspection  laws,  a  uniform  and  reliable  stan- 
dard, that  under  the  system  then  existing,  of  appointing  sev- 
eral inspectors,  between  whom,  as  was  well  said  in  the  Report, 
the  competition  necessarily  was,  "not  who  shall  inspect  the 
best  flour,  but  who  shall  suffer  the  worst  to  pass  inspection." 
As  regarded  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  is  was  recommended  that 
they  be  divided  into  three  classes,  1st,  2d,  and  3d  quality,  and 
that  both  flour  and  ashes  bear  on  the  cask  the  brand  of  the 
manufacturer's  name,  and  his  county,  over  and  above  the  In- 
spector's brand. 

It  is  alleged  among  the  reasons  for  the  severer  inspection  of 
flour,  that  "the  wheat  brought  to  this  market  from  Jersey  and 
Maryland  is  as  good,  and  the  wheat  brought  from  the  North 
River  in  particular,  much  better  than  any  carried  to  Philadel- 
phia," and  therefore,  that  any  inferiority  of  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia flour  "  must  be  ascribed  to  defect  in  the  manufacture 
and  the  present  mode  of  inspection." 

In  1769  the  Chamber,  by  permission  of  the  Mayor  and  Cor- 
poration, began  to  hold  their  meetings  in  the  room  over  the  Ex- 
change, the  Chamber  to  occupy  it  one  year  free  of  rent,  they 
undertaking  to  furnish  the  room,  and  after  that  to  pay  an  an- 
nual rent  of  £20.  The  Exchange  here  referred  to  was  built 
on  arches  across  the  foot  of  Broad  street,  in  a  line  with  Water 
street.  Under  these  arches  itinerant  preachers  occasionally 
held  forth.  This  building  was  taken  down  after  the  Revolu- 
tion.* 

At  the  April  meeting  in  '69,  we  find  the  Chamber  occupying 
itself  with  regulating  the  tare  on  butter  and  lard  firkins,  and 
the  quantity  that  shall  constitute  a  ton  of  goods.     But  the  pe- 

*  Watson's  Annals,  p.  72,  Ancient  Edifices. 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

riod  had  arrived  when  political  agitation  and  political  action 
were  to  fihd  scope  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

The  Stamp  Act  had  aroused  the  spirit  of  the  Colonies,  which 
resolutely  refused  to  submit  to  taxation  by  Parliament  where 
they  had  no  representatives. 

The  first  Congress  of  the  American  Colonies  assembled  in 
New  York  on  the  9th  October,  '65,  as  has  been  already  stated. 
New  Hampshire  alone,  of  all  the  Colonies,  declined  sending  De- 
puties to  this  Congress.  None  attended  from  Virginia  or  North 
Carolina,  because  the  Legislatures  of  those  Colonies  were  not 
in  session  when  the  Circular  from  the  Massachusetts  Legisla- 
ture was  addressed  to  the  other  Colonies.  All  the  others  were 
represented. 

The  Delegates  to  this  Congress,  from  the  State  of  New  York, 
were  Eobert  E,.  Livingston,  John  Cruger,  Phil.  Livingston,  Wm. 
Bayard  and  Leonard  Lispenard — of  whom,  all  but  E,.  R.  Liv- 
ingston were  at  the  time,  or  afterwards  became,  members  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

In  proportion,  therefore,  to  the  influence  exercised  by  this 
Congress  upon  subsequent  events,  and  upon  the  fortunes  and 
liberties  of  America,  may  honor  be  claimed  for  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  which  furnished  four  out  of  the  five  Delegates  from 
the  State  of  New  York,  in  that  Congress. 

Of  its  acts,  mention  has  already  been  made.  In  the  course 
of  the  year  '69,  Parliament  passed  an  act  imposing  duties  on 
tea,  paper,  glass,  &c.,  professedly  for  revenue,  and  not  with  a 
view  to  regulate  Commerce. 

The  Colonies  resisted  this  act  as  they  had  resisted  the  Stamp 
Act,  and  upon  the  same  ground.  As  the  most  effectual  mode 
of  defeating  this  new  scheme  of  taxation,  associations  were  im- 
mediately entered  into  by  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
for  the  non-importation  of  goods  from  Great  Britain ;  and  in 
the  course  of  this  and  the  ensuing  year,  like  associations  were 
formed  in  all  the  Colonies,  and  the  popular  feeling  everywhere 
gave  effect  to  the  measures.  The  Assembly  of  the  Colony  of 
New  York  partook  of  and  approved  the  popular  feeling,  for  we 
find  in  the  Minutes  of  May  2,  1769,  the  following  entry: 

"  The  President  reported  that  the  Honorable  the  House  of 
Assembly,  had  directed  him  to  signify  their  thanks  to  the 
Merchants  of  this  City  and  Colony,  for  their  patriotic  conduct 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  53 

in  declining  the  importation  of  goods  from  Great  Britain  at  this 
juncture — and  until  the  acts  of  Parliament,  which  the  Assem- 
bly had  declared  unconstitutional  and  subversive  of  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  people  of  this  Colony,  should  be  repealed." 

A  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Desbrosses,  Alsop,  Low, 
Kortright,  McAdam,  and  W.  Franklin,  was  named  to  report  an 
answer  to  the  Assembly,  which  was  done  at  the  same  sitting. 

It  so  happened  that  on  this  occasion  the  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  John  Cruger,  was  also  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly,  and  this  explains  the  form  in  which  the  thanks  of 
that  body  were  conveyed  to  the  Chamber. 

Mr.  Cruger,  who  was  the  first  President  of  the  Chamber,  and 
served  two  years,  was  conspicuous  both  as  a  politician  and  a 
merchant;  he  was  born  in  this  city,  in  July,  1710 — the  son  of 
John  Cruger  and  Maria  Cuyler.  The  father  was  Alderman  of 
Dock  (now  first)  Ward  for  twenty -two  years,  and  subsequently 
served  five  years  as  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  died  in  that  office  in 
1744.  The  son,  John,  of  whom  we  are  treating,  followed  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  father — served  as  Alderman  of  Dock  Ward 
for  two  years,  and  in  1755  became  Mayor  of  the  city,  and  con- 
tinued in  that  office  ten  years — being  still  Mayor  when,  in  1765, 
he  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  as  above  stated. 

While  thus  doubly  honored  as  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  of 
the  Colony,  and  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  city  of  New  York,  he 
was  also  constituted,  as  we  have  seen,  Delegate  to  the  first 
Congress ;  and  it  is  of  record  that  he  and  Robert  R.  Livingston 
were  the  moving  spirits  of  that  delegation.  The  same  indi- 
viduals had  constituted  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  ap- 
pointed by  the  New  York  Assembly  in  '64,  to  whose  suggestions 
we  have  ascribed  the  determination  of  Massachusetts  to  invite 
the  assembling  of  the  Congress  of  '64.  To  the  pen  of  John 
Cruger  is  due  the  "  Declaration  of  Rights  and  Grievances  of 
the  Colonies,"  put  forth  by  that  Congress ;  and  it  is  clear,  from 
the  circumstance  of  his  constant  re-election  as  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly,  that  he  enjoyed  the  highest  favor  among  his  coun- 
trymen. His  name  does  not  appear  on  the  records  of  the 
Chamber  after  May,  1775 — ^whence  it  would  seem  to  follow 
that  he  left  the  city  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British. 
He  died  in  1792,  unmarried.  His  brother,  Henry  Cruger,  was 
father  of  Col.  Cruger,  of  the  British  service,  Henry  Cruger, 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

the  colleague  of  Burke  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  Nicho- 
las Cruger,  an  eminent  West  India  merchant  of  this  city,  and 
under  whose  auspices  the  boy  Alexander  Hamilton  came  hith- 
er from  Santa  Cruz. 

To  return  to  the  Chamber.  At  the  meeting  in  May,  '69,  a 
resolution  was  passed,  which,  if  it  had  been  duly  carried  out, 
might  have  led  to  a  record  of  commercial  cases,  and  the  deci- 
sions thereon  by  the  Arbitration  Committee,  which  would  now 
constitute  a  body  of  commercial  law  and  usages  of  great  value. 

It  was  decided  that  "  all  committees  do  report,  at  the  next 
ensuing  sitting  of  the  Chamber,  such  differences  between  par- 
ties as  they  may  have  adjusted,  with  the  names  of  parties  and 
the  sums  awarded,  together  with  the  opinions — to  the  end  that 
the  same  be  entered  on  the  minutes — always  provided  both 
parties  consent  thereto." 

Another  proposition  was  adopted  at  this  meeting,  that  the 
Chamber  have  an  annual  public  dinner — absentees  therefrom 
to  pay  five  shillings  each. 

Both  these  usages  have  fallen  into  disuse — both  might  be 
advantageously  and  agreeably  revived. 

The  Chamber  was  occupied  with  regulating  the  rates  of  com- 
mission for  transacting  different  sorts  of  business,  the  value  of 
gold  and  silver  coins,  &c.,  &c. 

The  minutes  of  7th  Nov.  present  a  reply  by  David  Ritten- 
house  and  John  Montresor  to  a  request  by  Mr.  President  Cru- 
ger, that  they  would  calculate  the  latitude  of  the  Battery — 
which  they  make  out  40°  42'  8". 

On  15th  Feb.,  1770,  the  Chamber,  through  their  President, 
addressed  a  memorial  to  the  acting  governor,  C.  D.  Colden,  for 
an  act  of  incorporation. 

At  the  April  meeting,  the  Charter  granted  by  the  Lieutenant 
Governor  was  received,  read,  and  accepted.  The  Chamber  or- 
dered that  20  guineas  be  paid  to  the  Attorney-General  "  for 
his  services  in  perfecting  the  Charter." 

Under  this  Charter  the  first  election  for  officers,  held  on  the 
first  Tuesday  (2d)  of  May,  resulted  thus  : 

Hon.  Hugh  Wallace,  President. 
Hon.  Henry  White,  Elias  Desbrosses,  Vice  Presidents. 

A.  Van  Dam,  Secretary,     Theoph.  Bache,  Treasurer. 


HISTOEY  OP  THE  CHAMBER.  55 

The  great  trouble  of  the  time  was  a  depreciated  and  irregu- 
lar Paper  Currency,  and  the  circulation  of  various  foreign  gold 
and  silver  coins,  which  were  clipped,  sweated,  and  otherwise 
diminished  in  value.  To  meet  this  in  part,  in  Aug.,  '70,  it  was, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Isaac  Low,  resolved  that  the  members  of  this 
Corporation  would  henceforth  pay  and  receive  the  half- Johannes, 
weighing  8  dwts,  at  c£3  4*.  and  for  every  grain  overrunning 
they  would  pay  three  pence,  and  for  every  grain  short  they 
would  deduct  four  pence. 

John  Cruger  dissented  from  this  resolve  as  one  tending  to 
impair  the  value  of  the  currency,  and  claimed  to  have  his  dis- 
sent entered  on  the  minutes,  which  was  done. 

A  curious  and  rather  inconvenient  practice  obtained  at  this 
time,  of  entering  upon  the  minutes  the  reasoning  of  members 
in  favor  of  any  proposition  made  by  them.  Thus,  on  the  min- 
utes for  Nov.,  '70,  there  is  a  long  argument  by  I.  Low,  in  favor 
of  a  plan  he  suggests  for  improving  the  quality  of  the  New 
York  Flour,  "the  grand  staple  of  this  Colony."  He  ascribes 
the  superiority  of  the  Philadelphia  flour  to  its  being  ground 
with  French  burr  stones,  which  the  New  York  millers  did  not 
use,  and  therefore  he  desired  that  the  Chamber  should  import 
ten  or  twenty  pair  of  French  burr  stones,  to  be  sold  at  cost 
only  to  New  York  millers.  It  being  ascertained  soon  after  that 
there  were  some  on  the  way,  on  private  account,  the  suggestion 
was  not  pressed,  but  the  argument  stands  on  the  records. 

Lord  Dunmore  having  arrived  in  New  York,  as  Governor,  in 
December,  '70,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  through  their  Presi- 
dent, made  an  address  of  congratulation  to  him,  full  of  expres- 
sions of  loyalty  to  the  sovereign,  George  III. 

On  the  proposal  of  Wm.  Walton,  the  Chamber  voted,  in  May, 
'71,  that  Lieut.  Gov.  Colden  be  asked  to  sit  for  his  portrait  for 
the  Chamber,  to  be  hung  up  in  its  room,  in  token  of  their  grati- 
tude for  the  Charter  of  Incorporation  granted  by  him. 

At  the  annual  dinner,  this  year,  as  Lord  Dunmore,  with  all 
the  chiefs  of  the  departments,  was  to  dine  with  the  Chamber, 
absent  members  were  required  to  pay  eight  shillings  apiece  to- 
ward the  cost  of  the  entertainment. 

Of  Hugh  Wallace,  the  second  President  of  the  Chamber, 
we  have  not  been  able  to  gather  much  information.  Two  bro- 
thers, of  Irish  origin,  Hugh  and  Alexander,  were  in  partnership 


56  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

as  merchants,  both  married  sisters  of  Nicholas  Low,  of  this 
city,  and  both  embraced  the  English  cause  when  the  Eevolu- 
tion  broke  out — remained  in  the  city  while  it  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  British  troops,  and  retired  with  them  from  the 
country. 

The  successor  of  Hugh  Wallace  in  the  Presidency  was  Elias 
Desbrosses,  in  1771,  who  served  one  year.  He  was  of  Huguenot 
descent — amassed  a  very  large  estate — and  died  in  the  city, 
bequeathing  his  wealth  to  his  daughters,  the  one  of  whom 
married  John  Hunter,  of  West  Chester,  and  the  other  Oapt. 
Overing,  of  the  British  Army,  but  who  resided  until  his  death 
in  this  city. 

Mr.  Desbrosses  was  Alderman  of  the  East  Ward  for  many 
years,  and  one  of  the  founders  and  liberal  benefactors  of  the 
French  Episcopal  Church  of  St.  Esprit,  in  this  city — the  origi- 
nal edifice  standing  in  Pine  street — and  a  liberal  contributor 
towards  the  support  of  its  Charity  School.  He  was  a  Vestry- 
man of  Trinity  Church  from  1759  to  '70,  and  Warden  from 
'70  to  '78. 

While  Mr.  Desbrosses  was  President  of  the  Chamber,  Gov. 
Tryon  arrived  as  the  successor  of  Lord  Dunmore,  who  was 
transferred  to  Virginia — and  the  most  lavish  expressions  of 
loyalty  were  addressed  on  the  part  of  the  Chamber  to  the  new 
Governor. 

.  In  May,  '72,  the  Hon.  Henry  White  was  chosen  President. 
This  title  of  Honorable,  as  applied  to  members  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, was  derived  from  their  being  members  of  the  Governor's 
Council.  Capt.  Isaac  Sears  withdrew  from  the  Association  in 
August,  '71,  because  of  the  resolution  adopted  at  a  previous 
meeting,  fixing  the  rate  at  which  Jersey  paper  money  should 
be  received  and  paid  by  members  of  the  Chamber.  In  Octo- 
ber following,  thirteen  other  members  of  the  Chamber,  Roose- 
velt, Duyckinck,  Hoffman,  Beekman,  Gouverneur,  Lispenard, 
and  others,  withdrew  from  the  Chamber  for  the  same  cause. 

In  1773,  the  House  of  Assembly  granted  to  the  Corporation 
<5e200  per  annum  for  five  years,  in  order  to  the  encouragement 
of  a  better  supply  of  fish  to  the  New  York  markets. 

The  Chamber  accordingly  offered  a  first  and  second  premium, 
varying  from  c€40  to  c£45,  for  the  boat  or  vessel  that  should  in 
a  given  time  supply  the  market  with  the  largest  quantity  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  57 

codfish,  sheepshead,  mackerel,  or  any  other  fish  except  skate 
and  ray. 

In  May,  '73,  Theophylact  Bache  was  chosen  President. 

In  the  following  month  a  most  affectionate  and  eulogistic 
address  was  presented  by  the  Chamber  to  General  Gage,  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  His  Majesty's  foi'ces  in  North  America,  on 
occasion  of  his  return  to  England.     The  Address  runs  thus : 

"  May  it  please  your  Excellency — 

**  When  we  review  your  conduct  as  Commander-in-Chief  of 
His  Majesty's  forces,  and  reflect  on  the  happiness  derived  to 
this  Colony  from  your  eminent  justice,  from  the  discipline  and 
good  order  of  the  army,  and  your  constant  attention  to  secure 
to  North  America  the  solid  effects  of  a  series  of  victories  so 
glorious  to  the  British  arms ;  when  to  these  we  unite  your  en- 
gaging manners  and  polite  and  obliging  deportment,  we  feel, 
in  common  with  the  rest  of  our  citizens,  the  liveliest  sentiments 
of  esteem  and  respect  for  a  character  so  truly  valuable. 

"  We  are  persuaded,  sir,  that  as  you  take  with  you  the  de- 
served applause  of  the  Colonies,  and  the  cordial  affection  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  city,  long  honored  by  your  immediate 
residence,  so  your  zeal  and  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  a  trust 
the  most  important,  will  recommend  you  to  the  favor  and  ap- 
probation of  our  most  gracious  Sovereign." 

General  Gage  replied  in  terms  not  less  cordial.  "  I  have," 
said  he,  "lived  long  among  you,  and  happily,  with  you  and  your 
fellow-citizens.  It  is  natural  I  should  leave  you  with  regret, 
and  concern,  and  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  carry  with  me 
sentiments  the  most  friendly  to  the  Colonies  in  general,  and  the 
warmest  wishes  for  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  New  York." 

This  was  in  June,  1773,  only  three  years  before  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  ;  less  than  two  years  before  the  battle 
of  Lexington,  which  opened  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
only  fifteen  months  before  the  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  '74, 
which  assembled  in  September  of  that  year,  in  Carpenter's 
Hall,  Philadelphia,  in  which  hall,  in  July,  '76,  was  signed  and 
proclaimed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

These  reminiscences  derive  the  more  point,  in  this  connection, 
from  the  fact  that  Gen.  Gage  was,  in  '74,  sent  out  to  Massa- 

8 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBErl. 

chusetts  as  Governor  of  that  Colony,  after  the  withdrawal  of 
the  odious  Hutchinson,  and  that  it  was  under  his  orders  that 
the  detachment  of  troops  which  brought  on  the  conflict  at 
Lexington,  was  sent  from  Boston  to  destroy  certain  military 
stores  at  Concord. 

In  January.  '74,  the  Chamber  was  obliged  to  recede  from 
the  ground  it  had  taken  on  the  subject  of  the  paper  money  of 
New  Jersey,  which  must  have  been  the  principal  circulating 
medium  of  the  city  at  that  time.  In  consequence  of  the  res- 
olution of  the  Chamber,  that  its  members  would  neither  receive 
nor  deal  in  it,  at  the  current  rate,  the  resignations  of  members 
were  so  numerous,  in  order  to  avoid  the  obligation  of  this  re- 
solve, and  the  attendance  of  others  so  negligent,  that  no  quo- 
rum could  be  formed.  On  motion,  therefore,  of  R.  C.  Living- 
ston, it  was  resolved,  "  that  the  members  of  the  Chamber  be  at 
liberty  to  receive  and  pay  Jersey  money  as  it  formerly  passed," 
and  then,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Charles  McEvers,  all  the  members 
who  had  resigned  on  account  of  the  question,  were  invited  to 
present  themselves  anew  to  be  balloted  for  as  members. 

In  May,  '74,  William  Walton  was  chosen  President,  and  on 
the  same  day  an  address  was  voted  to  Governor  Try  on,  on  his 
return  to  England — not  less  affectionate,  eulogistic  or  loyal 
than  that  to  General  Gage — and  Gov.  Tryon's  reply  is  equally 
full  of  professions  of  interest  for  the  Colony,  with  that  of  Gen- 
eral Gage. 

Of  the  three  last  named  Presidents,  let  us  pause  to  present 
brief  sketches. 

The  Hon.  W.  White  was  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council, 
an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  largely  engaged  in  trade.  He 
was  faithful  to  his  allegiance,  and  sided  with  the  Mother  Coun- 
try against  the  Colonies.  There  are  descendants  of  his  of  the 
third  generation  now  living  among  us,  maintaining,  as  he  al- 
ways maintained,  an  upright  and  honorable  character. 

Theophylact  Bache,  who  was  chosen  President  in  1773,  was 
also  of  English  birth,  a  native  of  Lancashire.  He  came  to 
this  country  about  1755,  being  just  of  age,  and  soon  after 
married  Miss  Barclay.  His  mercantile  pursuits  were  chiefly 
with  the  West  Indies  and  Newfoundland.  He  was  also  agent 
of  the  British  packets  which  used  to  ply  between  Falmouth  and 
New  York.     He  is  remembered  as  a  fine  specimen  of  a  gentle- 


HISTORY  OF   THE   CHAMBER.  59 

mau — courteous,  hospitable,  with  a  touch  of  the  sportsman, 
loving  his  gun  and  his  dog,  and  everywhere  acceptable  as  a 
polished  and  agreeable  companion.  He  died  in  this  city  in 
1806,  after  being  for  a  third  of  a  century  one  of  the  Vestry  of 
Trinity  Church. 

Wm.  Walton,  who  was  chosen  President  of  the  Chamber  in 
May,  1774,  was  a  native  of  this  city,  as  is  believed,  son 
of  Jacob  Walton  and  Mary  Beekman,  his  wife.  He  was  ex- 
tensively engaged  in  commerce  as  a  partner  in  the  house  of 
Wm.  Walton  &  Co.,  of  which  his  uncle,  Wm.  Walton,  com- 
monly called  Boss  Walton,  was  the  head,  until  his  death  in 
1768.  Wm.  Walton,  in  1757,  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of 
James  Delancey,  some  time  Chief  Justice  and  Lieut.  Govern- 
or of  the  Province,  and  acting  Governor  in  1753,  and  again 
from  1757  to  1760.  His  career  as  a  merchant  was  prosperous 
and  honorable,  and  his  social  position  was  among  the  most  re- 
spected in  the  land.  He  was,  in  common  with  almost  all  the 
leading  men  of  the  day,  opposed  to  the  invasion  of  the  Colonial 
rights  by  the  Government  of  the  Parent  Country,  and  shared 
in  the  measures  first  adopted  for  a  peaceful  and  Constitutional 
redress,  but  in  common,  too,  with  a  great  many  of  the  foremost 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  could  not  approve  of  the  armed  re- 
sistance to  the  royal  authority  ;  and  when  actual  war  broke  out, 
he  retired  from  the  city  to  his  country  residence  in  New  Jer- 
sey. There,  however,  he  was  unable  to  remain,  and  re-entered 
the  city,  then  under  British  rule,  thereby  subjecting  to  con- 
fiscation his  Jersey  estate.  He  remained  within  the  lines  du- 
ring the  war — and  it  is  recorded  of  him  that,  unsoured  by  the 
loss  of  property  confiscated  because  he  could  not  side  with 
what  he  looked  upon  as  rebellion — and  only  mindful  that  he 
was  born  an  American,  he  exerted  himself  to  alleviate  the 
horrors  to  which  his  countrymen,  prisoners  to  the  British  in 
New  York,  were  subjected.  He  continued  to  reside  in  New 
York,  though  no  longer  engaged  in  business,  till  his  death  in 
1796 — leaving  behind  him  a  good  name  and  many  regrets. 
Among  his  children  was  Jacob,  who  entered  the  British  Navy, 
and  is  well  remembered,  doubtless,  by  many  who  hear  me,  as 
a  resident,  during  the  latter  period  of  his  life,  in  this  city, 
where  he  died  in  1844 — having  attained  the  rank  of  Rear 
Admiral  of  the  Red. 


60  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  had  oflfered,  as  we  have  stated, 
a  bounty  of  premiums  for  bringing  fish  to  the  New-York  mar- 
ket. This  was  awarded  in  July,  1774 — Peter  Parks  receiving 
oESO,  for  having  brought  800  live  Cod  to  market  for  six 
months  from  1st  November  to  1st  May,  and  Robert  Hartshorne 
o£20,  for  having  brought  456  Sheepshead  to  market  during  the 
year  from  May,  1773,  to  May,  1774. 

From  July,  1774,  to  May,  1775,  no  quorum  seems  to  have 
been  formed;  the  minutes  record  the  names  of  the  few  who, 
on  the  stated  monthly  day  of  meeting  appeared — but  no  busi- 
ness was  transacted  until  the  annual  meeting,  3d  of  May,  1775, 
when  the  officers  were  to  be  chosen. 

Isaac  Low  was  elected  President,  and  John  Alsop  and  Wil- 
liam McAdam,  Vice  Presidents;  Charles  McEvers,  Treasurer; 
and  A.  Van  Dam,  Secretary;  but  from  that  day  until  June, 
1779,  the  Chamber  was  never  assembled. 

On  Monday,  21st  June,  1779,  the  President,  Isaac  Low,  at 
the  request  of  many  members,  summoned  a  meeting  of  the 
Chamber,  and  the  following  persons  appeared : 

-     ISAAC  LOW,  President. 
Wm.  McAdam,  Vice  President. 
A.  Van  Dam,  Secretary, 

Wm.  Walton,  Gabriel  H.  Ludlow, 

Isaac  Corsa,  William  Stepple, 

Robert  Murray,  Henry  White, 

Jno.  Moore,  Benj.  Booth, 

Wm.  Laight,  Alexander  Wallace, 

Thos.  Buchanan,  Robt.  R.  Waddel, 

Wm.  Seton,  Richard  Yates, 

Thomas  Miller,  Gerard  Walton, 

Edward  Laight,  Augustus  Van  Horne, 

Hugh  Wallace,  Lawrence  Kortwright. 

The  meeting  addressed  a  letter,  signed  by  all  the  above,  to 
the  Commandant  of  the  city,  Lieut.  Governor  Daniel  Jones, 
Esq.,  thus  explaining  the  objects  of  their  assembling: 

"  We  beg  leave  to  inform  your  Excellency,  that  the  sub- 
scribers are  members  of  a  society  known  by  the  style  and  title 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  before  the  present  un- 
natural rebellion,  assembled  under  certain  regulations,"  &c.  &c. 


HISTOKY  OF  THE   CHAMBEE„  61 

The  immediate  motive  for  re-assembling  is  in  the  same  letter 
stated  to  be — 

"  The  increase  of  Commerce  encouraged  by  the  proclama- 
tions of  H.  M.'s  Commissioner,  together  with  the  success  of 
private  ships  of  war." 

The  Lieut.  Governor  approved  very  highly  of  the  re-assem- 
bling of  the  Chamber,  and  at  a  special  meeting,  12th  July,  the 
Superintendent  of  the  City,  at  the  request  of  Major  General 
Patterson,  asked  the  co-operation  of  the  Chamber  in  some 
efficient  scheme,  for  cleansing  the  city  and  keeping  it  clean, 
adding  that  the  barracks,  military  hospital  and  other  public 
buildings  should  be  subjected  to  any  plan  agreed  upon.  The 
Chamber  was  also  asked  to  express  its  opinion  as  to  the  ex- 
pediency of  regulating  the  price  of  butcher's  meat,  and  the 
markets  generally.  The  Chamber,  through  a  Committee,  made 
a  very  sensible  reply.  It  may  not  be  without  interest,  even 
now,  to  hear  what  they  said. 

After  complimenting  the  Commandant  on  the  readiness 
evinced  by  him  to  co-operate  in  remedying  a  state  of  things 
complained  of  by  every  one,  the  Chamber  says: — "Although 
the  business  does  not  come  within  the  proper  sphere  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  not  appertaining  to  trade,  they  very 
cheerfully  accept  the  task." 

They  recommended  therefor  no  new  plan  of  cleaning  the 
streets,  but  simply  the  due  execution  of  that  formerly  in  prac- 
tice— under  which,  they  say,  "the  city  was  once  as  remarkable 
for  its  cleanliness,  as  it  is  now  for  the  contrary." 

What  the  plan  was,  is  not  stated,  but  briefly,  that  the  Cor- 
poration ordinances  concerning  it,  only  need  to  be  revived  and 
enforced,  and  made  applicable,  where,  heretofore,  the  military 
authorities  had  refused — "to  the  barracks,  military  hospital," 
&c.  "Very  different,"  says  the  report,  "has  been  the  former 
practice  relative  to  these  public  buildings,  for  notwithstanding 
repeated  remonstrances,  it  seemed  to  be  the  opinion  that  noth- 
ing further  was  necessary  than  to  throw  the  straw  and  dirt  into 
the  middle  of  the  street,  and  leave  it  to  the  inhabitants  or 
scavengers  to  remove  it,  in  any  way  they  pleased." 

To  a  proposition  that  scavengers  be  employed,  whose  re- 
muneration should  be  chiefly  from  an  exclusive  right  to  remove 
the  dirt,  &c.,  from  the  streets,  for  their  own  use  and  profit — 


62  HISTOKY   OF  THE   CHAMBER, 

it  is  said  in  the  report  that  objection  was  made  by  some  jyerson 
in  power  "that  it  would  interfere  with  the  common  right  of 
mankind,  because  everj^  person  who  pleased  had  a  right  to  take 
dirt  out  of  the  streets,  an  hypothesis,"  fitly  adds  the  Report, 
"  in  our  idea  founded  neither  in  reason  nor  in  fact." 

As  to  regulating  the  price  of  butcher's  meat,  "experience," 
says  the  Report,  "justifies  our  apprehension  that  the  remedy 
may  prove  worse  than  the  disease."  It  is  suggested,  however,  as 
likely  to  induce  good  results — that  the  time  of  keeping  open 
markets  be  limited,  and  that  between  the  months  of  April  and 
October  no  meats,  vegetables  or  poultry  be  exposed  for  sale 
after  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  not  during  the  remainder  of  the 
year  after  11  o'clock  A.  M.,  (Saturday  evenings  always  except- 
ed.) And  further,  that  no  fresh  provisions,  (fish  excepted,) 
vegetables  or  poultry  be  put  into  stores  or  cellers,  on  penalty 
of  confiscation  for  the  benefit  of  the  Alms  House.  But  al- 
though the  Chamber  discouraged  any  attempt  to  regulate  the 
price  of  butcher's  meat,  the  same  Report  suggests  that  cart- 
men's  wages  are  too  high,  and  should  be  reduced  one-third. 

During  the  whole  period  of  the  occupation  of  the  city  by 
the  British,  viz.,  from  1776  to  1783 — the  Chamber  seems  to 
have  co-operated  very  zealously  with  the  British  authorities, 
naval  and  military  ;  and  they  on  their  part  seem  to  have  relied 
very  much  upon  the  influence  and  exertions  of  the  Chamber  to 
render  their  rule  of  the  city  easy  and  acceptable.  The  Chamber 
was  at  that  time  thoroughly  in  the  interest  of  the  Mother  Coun- 
try, and  in  its  votes  of  thanks  to  officers,  civil,  naval  and  mili- 
tary, it  always  speaks  of  the  Americans  as  rebels,  and  the  war 
as  unnatural. 

Very  many,  however,  of  the  members  left  the  city,  and  were 
absent  during  the  whole  period  of  its  occupation  by  the  British. 
Mr.  Isaac  Low,  as  above  noted,  who  was  chosen  President  in 
May,  1775,  called  the  Chamber  together  in  1779;  and  its  sit- 
tings under  his  Presidency,  he  being  annually  re-elected,  are 
carefully  entered  on  the  minutes. 

From  6th  May,  1783,  however,  to  20th  January,  1784,  no 
meeting  is  recorded. 

At  the  latter  date  the  Chamber  met,  Gerard  Walton,  Vice 
President,  presiding,  the  President,  Isaac  Low,  having  retired 
with  the  British  when  they  evacuated  the  city  on  November 
25th,  1783. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  63 

Isaac  Low,  nevertheless,  at  the  commencement  of  the  con- 
troversy between  the  Colonies  and  England,  had  sided  with  the 
colonial  cause — but  he  desired,  like  so  many  others,  and  be- 
lieved, that  the  dispute  might  be  amicably  adjusted,  and  with- 
out severing  the  bonds  which  united  the  two  countries. 

Isaac  Low  was  an  American  born,  as  were  his  forefathers. 
The  first  of  the  family  in  this  country  was  Cornelius  Low,  who 
was  born  in  Kingston  in  1670.  His  son  Cornelius  was  born  on 
the  31st  March,  1700,  in  this  city.  In  1729  he  was  married  to 
Johanna,  daughter  of  Isaac  Gouverneur,  in  whose  veins  ran  the 
blood  of  Leisler,  the  first  victim  to  arbitrary  power  in  this 
Colony.  Isaac  Gouverneur  was  a  descendant  of  Abraham 
Gouverneur,  a  French  Huguenot,  who  married  the  widow  of 
Milbourne ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  Leisler — Milbourne  having 
been  executed  with  his  father-in-law,  on  the  16th  of  May,  1691. 
In  April,  1731,  Isaac  Low  was  born,  at  Raritan  Landing,  a 
short  distance  above  New  Brunswick,  in  New  Jersey.  He 
married  a  younger  daughter  of  Cornelius  Cuyler,  many  years 
Mayor  of  Albany,  under  the  Provincial  Government.  He  is 
spoken  of  as  an  upright,  able  magistrate — a  thorough  loyalist* 
and  was  father  of  the  late  Sir  Cornelius  Cuyler,  Bart.,  and 
Lieutenant-General  in  the  British  army. 

Of  Mr.  Isaac  Low,  we  find  this  mention  on  occasion  of  his 
marriage,  in  Mrs.  Grant's  "Memoirs  of  an  American  Lady." 

"  The  elder  sister  had  married  Augustus  Van  Cortland  of 
Cortland's  Manor.  The  younger  sister,  equally  admired, 
though  possessing  a  different  style  of  beauty,  more  soft  and 
debonaire,  with  the  fairest  complexion,  and  most  cheerful  sim- 
plicity of  aspect,  was  the  peculiar  favorite  of  her  aunt  Schuyler, 
(the  American  lady,)  above  all  she  now  took  charge  of.  She, 
too,  was  soon  after  married  to  the  esteemed  patriot,  Isaac  Low, 
revered  through  the  whole  continent  for  his  sound  good  sense 
and  genuine  public  spirit.  He  was  indeed  happily  tempered, 
mild  and  firm — and  was  finally  the  victim  of  steadfast  loyalty." 

As  already  stated,  at  the  commencement  of  the  disputes  be- 
tween England  and  the  Colonies,  Mr.  Low  sided  with  his  native 
land,  and  being  at  once  able  and  popular,  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and  a  Representative  from  the 
city  to  the  Congress  of  1774.  But  as  the  quarrel  became  ex- 
asperated, and  the  necessity  was  forced  upon  him  to  choose  be- 


64:  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

tween  what  he  conceived  to  be  duty  and  loyalty,  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Colonies,  he  decided,  like  so  many  other  con- 
scientious men — erroneously  as  seems  to  us — but  honestly,  and 
to  his  own  great  detriment,  for  the  cause  and  claims  of  the 
Mother  Country. 

Under  such  influences,  he  was  a  most  useful  and  serviceable 
friend  to  the  British  while  the  city  of  New  York  was  in  their 
occupation — and  as  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
during  that  whole  term,  used  its  authority  and  influence  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  the  Mother  Country,  while  mitigating,  as  far 
as  depended  on  him,  the  calamities  of  such  a  state  of  things,  to 
his  own  countrymen,  prisoners  in  New  York. 

His  younger  brother,  Nicholas  Low,  born  on  the  Raritan  in 
1739,  took  the  opposite  side — espoused  warmly  the  American 
cause — was  honored  as  one  of  its  Counsellors  by  repeated  ap- 
pointments to  public  office,  and  died  in  this  city  in  1826,  at  the 
good  old  age  of  87 — honored  of  man  and  at  peace  with  heaven. 
Isaac  Low  retired  with  the  retiring  British  army,  from  the  land 
of  his  birth,  and  resided  in  England  till  his  death  in  1791,  leav- 
ing an  only  son,  Isaac  Low,  a  Commissary  General  of  the  Brit- 
ish army,  now  living  near  the  village  of  Lyndhurst,  in  the  New 
Forest,  Hants. 

At  the  flrst  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  after  the  evacuation  of 
the  city,  many  names  were  proposed  for  admission,  of  men  who 
had  been  absent  during  the  war,  and  some  of  them  in  the  pub- 
lic service  of  America. 

The  next  meeting  was  on  the  20th  April,  1784.  This  was 
called  under  a  law  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  upon  the  petition  of  many  members  who  dissented 
from  the  course  of  the  Chamber  while  the  city  was  in  the  occu- 
pation of  the  British,  and  were  advised,  that  the  charter  was  by 
misuser  forf tiled,  and  therefore  required  a  new  sanction  from 
the  new  State. 

This  memorial,  and  the  names  appended,  constitute  a  histo- 
rical document  of  no  small  interest;  therefore  it  is  embodied 

here : 

"New  York,  April  20,  1784. 

"  The  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  conduct  of  Great  Britain  to- 
wards the  late  Colonies,  (now  States  of  America,)  having  been 
such  as  to  compel  the  people  of  these  States  to  have  recourse  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 


65 


arms  for  tlie  defence  of  their  liberty  and  property,  and  the  in- 
vasion of  the  State  of  New  York  having  driven  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city  to  the  cruel  necessity  of  leaving  their  houses  and 
property  and  to  retire  into  the  country,  the  exercise  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  Chamber  were,  in  consequence  of  the  war, 
suspended  from  May  3,  '75,  to  July  6th,  '79,  when  a  number  of 
the  members  assumed  the  exercise  of  the  powers  contained  in 
their  charter,  under  the  patronage  of  the  British  Commanders; 
and  the  influence  of  the  Chamber  having  been  manifestly  di- 
rected to  aid  the  British  in  subjugating  these  States, — a  num- 
ber of  the  members  and  other  citizens,  on  their  return  to  this 
city,  taking  into  consideration  the  state  of  the  Chamber,  and 
being  advised  by  counsel  that  the  charter  of  the  said  Chamber 
had  been  forfeited  and  lost  by  reason  of  the  misuser  and  non- 
user  of  the  same,  they  thought  it  most  advisable  to  petition  the 
Legislature  for  a  confirmation  of  the  said  charter — in  conse- 
quence of  which  resolution,  a  petition  was  presented  by  the  fol- 
lowing persons : 


Samuel  Broome, 
George  Embree, 
Thomas  Hazard, 
Jno.  Broome, 
Cornelius  Ray, 
Abm.  Duryee, 
Thomas  Randell, 
Thomas  Tucker, 
Jno.  Alsop, 
Daniel  Phoenix, 
Isaac  Roosevelt, 
James  Beekman, 
Eliphalet  Brush, 
John  R.  Kipp, 
Comfort  Sands, 
Nath.  Hazard, 
Jeremiah  Platt, 
Gerardus  Duyckinck, 
Abm.  p.  Lott, 
Benj.  Ledyard, 


Anthony  Griffiths, 
Wm.  Malcolm, 
RoBT.  Bowne, 
John  Berrian, 
Isaac  Seers, 
Jacob  Morris, 
John  Franklin, 
Abm.  Lott, 
James  Jarvis, 
Henry  H.  Kipp, 
Jno.  Blagge, 
Arch.  Currie, 
Joshua  Sands, 
Stephen  Sayre, 
Jonathan  Lawrence, 
Joseph  Blackwell, 
Viner  Van  Zandt, 
David  Currie. 
Lawrence  Embree, 
Jacobus  Van  Zandt." 


9 


6Q  HISTORY   OP  THE   CHAMBER. 

The  Legislature  taking  the  same  into  consideration,  granted 
the  prayer  of  the  petition,  and  did  on  the  13th  April  pass  a  law 
entitled  "An  act  to  remove  doubts  concerning  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  and  to  confirm  the  rights  and  privileges  thereof,"  in 
consequence  of  which  law  the  meeting  as  above  first  was  called. 
The  first  care  of  the  meeting  was  to  choose  its  officers,  who 
were:  John  Alsop,  President;  Isaac  Sears,  Vice  President; 
John  Broome,  Treasurer;  John  Blagge,  Secretary,  but  he  being 
abroad,  D.  Phoenix,  was  appointed  ^ro  tern. 

Col.  Malcolm,  Comfort  Sands  and  Daniel  Phoenix,  all  of 
whom  now  appear  for  the  first  time — for  they  had  been  out  dur- 
ing the  British  occupation — were  appointed  a  committee  to  re- 
port by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  Chamber. 

In  the  above  list  of  members  appears  the  name  of  Jonathan 
Lawrence — and  we  pause  for  a  moment  on  this  gentleman's  his- 
tory, as  furnishing  an  instance  of  the  pecuniary  sacrifices  made 
by  Whigs  who  were  driven  into  exile.  Though  differing  in  its 
details  from  other  cases,  it  may  be  presented  as  a  sample  of  the 
many;  we  may  almost  say,  "ex  uno  disce  omnes.'' 

At  the  age  of  thirty-four  years,  Jonathan  Lawrence  retired 
from  this  city  to  a  seat  at  Hell-gate,  on  the  banks  of  the  East 
River,  in  his  native  town  of  Newtown,  (L.  I.,)  with  a  competent 
fortune  derived  from  mercantile  pursuits  and  from  inheritance. 
Although  unambitious  of  political  distinction,  and  having  every 
thing  to  hazard  on  the  issue,  he  entered  earnestly  into  the  agi- 
tating public  questions  which  a  few  years  after  became  the  ab- 
sorbing topics.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  1775-6,  as  well  as  of  the  Convention  of  1776-7,  which  formed 
the  first  Constitution  of  this  State,  and  was  the  only  attending 
member  from  Queens  County  while  that  Constitution  was  in  pro- 
gress. By  an  ordinance  passed  simultaneously  with  the  consti- 
tution, the  Convention  appointed  Lewis  Morris,  Pierre  Van 
Cortlandt,  John  Morin  Scott,  Jonathan  Lawrence,  William 
Floyd,  William  Smith,  of  Suffolk,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  John  Jones 
and  Philip  Livingston,  to  be  the  Senators  from  the  Southern 
District  of  the  State  while  in  possession  of  the  enemy.  Mr. 
Lawrence  filled  this  post  throughout  the  war.  Besides  dis- 
charging many  other  public  duties  requiring  discretion,  firmness 
and  energy,  he,  in  1778,  embarked  ^t  Black  Point,  in  New  Jer- 


HISTORY   OF  THE    CHAMBER.  67 

sey,  in  the  fleet  of  Count  D'Estaing,  as  a  volunteer,  on  what 
proved  to  be  the  fruitless  expedition  against  Rhode  Island. 

In  1775,  the  Provincial  Congress  appointed  him  to  be  Major 
of  the  Brigade  commanded  by  General  Woodhull,  and  he  was 
connected  with  the  operations  in  1776,  of  that  gallant  martyr. 
By  him  he  was  despatched  to  the  convention  at  Harlsem,  who 
in  their  turn  sent  him  to  General  Washington,  at  Brooklyn,  for 
reinforcements  which  had  been  promised,  but  which  it  was  found 
could  not  be  spared.  During  these  transactions  the  capture  and 
dastardly  butchery  of  General  Woodhull  took  place,  preceded 
by  the  battle,  which  left  Long  Island  at  the  enemy's  mercy. 
In  this  absence  of  Mr.  Lawrence  from  home,  his  house  was  taken 
in  possession  at  night  by  a  marauding  party  of  British  soldiers. 
Amusing  them  with  refreshments  in  the  kitchen,  Mrs.  Lawrence 
and  two  female  relatives,  then  on  a  visit  to  her,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  female  servants,  aroused  Mr.  L.'s  five  infant  chil- 
dren, (the  oldest  nine  years  of  age,)  from  their  beds,  and  aban- 
doned the  house  with  all  its  contents,  except  such  few  articles 
of  clothing,  plate  and  valuables  as  they  could  hastily  and  quiet- 
ly secure.  Being  silently  and  speedily  conveyed,  by  a  faithful 
slave,  in  a  boat  across  the  river,  they  on  the  next  day  reached 
Mr.  Lawrence  at  Harlsem,  from  which  place  the  convention  had 
just  adjourned  to  Fishkill.  Having  encountered  during  more 
than  seven  years  of  exile  the  many  difficulties  and  privations  to 
which  his  blighted  fortune  subjected  him,  he,  on  the  conclusion 
of  the  peace  of  1783,  returned  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in 
his  forty-seventh  year,  abandoning  legislative  life,  and  collect- 
ing the  very  few  remaining  fragments  of  his  former  property,  he 
began  the  world  again. 

The  next  meeting  was  on  the  4th  of  May,  the  day  specified 
in  the  charter  for  the  choice  of  officers,  when  the  same  persons 
named  at  the  preceding  meeting  were  again  chosen. 

Henceforth  the  meetings  of  the  Chamber  went  on  in  the  usual 
course,  and  were  occupied  with  the  ordinary  cases  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  city.  At  the  August  meeting  the  French  Consul, 
Mr.  St.  John,  informed  the  Chamber,  by  letter,  that  his  M.  C. 
M.,  for  the  encouragement  of  American  commerce  to  China,  had 
ordered  that  the  ships  and  vessels  of  the  United  States  should 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  putting  into  the  Isles  of  France  and  Bour- 
bon, where  they  will  find  every  protection  and  liberty  they  may 
stand  in  need  of. 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

The  newly  established  Government  of  the  United  States 
stood  greatly  in  need  of  revenue;  and  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  order  to  contribute  its  proportion  to  the  general  fund,  and 
for  its  own  necessary  expenditures,  passed  an  import  law — 
which,  however,  was  too  frequently  violated  by  smugglers. 
The  consideration  of  this  matter  was  brought  before  the  Cham- 
ber, on  motion  of  Mr.  James  Beekman,  and  was  referred  to  a 
committee,  consisting  of  the  Vice  President  Sears,  Jacob 
Morris  and  James  Beekman,  who,  at  the  subsequent  meeting 
in  October,  1784,  reported  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
unanimously  concurred  in,  and  ordered  to  be  published  in  the 
newspapers. 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Corporation  do  solemnly 
engage  and  promise  reciprocally  to  each  other,  that  they  will, 
by  every  means  in  their  power,  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  pre- 
vent the  scandalous  practice  of  smuggling.,  and  will  give  infor- 
mation of  every  violation  of  the  laws  which  may  come  to  their 
knowledge,  so  that  the  ofiender  may  be  publicly  known  and  pun- 
ished; and  they  do  most  earnestly  request  and  recommend  to 
their  fellow-citizens  that  they  unite  with  them  in  this  so  neces- 
sary and  laudable  engagement. 

It  may  be  said  with  entire  truth,  and  with  proud  satisfaction, 
that  this  honorable  testimony  of  the  early  merchants  of  New 
York  against  the  scandalous  practice  of  smuggling,  has  been 
practically  borne  out  by  their  successors,  even  to  this  day,  and 
that  among  no  commercial  people  are  the  demoralizing  habits 
of  smuggling  less  encouraged,  or  more  universally  contemned, 
than  among  the  merchants  of  this  metropolis. 

At  the  close  of  a  long  and  bloody  war,  the  States,  struggling 
against  depreciated  paper  currency  at  home,  found  themselves 
exposed,  in  their  commerce  on  the  high  seas,  and  especially  with 
Great  Britain  and  her  remaining  colonies,  to  vexations  and  ha- 
rassing depredations  and  regulations. 

Accordingly,  at  the  meeting  in  February,  1785,  we  find  a  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  memorialize  the  State  that  it  might  repre- 
sent to  Congress  *'the  depredations  made  on  the  navigation  of 
the  United  States  by  the  Algerines,  and  the  restrictions  laid  on 
our  trade  by  the  British  and  other  nations,  and  the  unfavorable 
state  of  our  commerce  at  large." 

An  address  was  also  made  by  the  Chamber  to  the  Continen- 
tal Congress,  testifying  the  respect  of  the  Chamber  for  that 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  69 

body,  and  their  confidence  in  its  wisdom — expressing  regret 
that  "the  present  condition  of  the  city,  which,  through  the 
whole  course  of  the  late  war,  has  been  devoted  to  the  rage  of 
British  power,  in  many  respects,  deprives  its  citizens  of  the 
means  of  gratifying  their  cordial  wishes,  which  we  can  assure 
your  honorable  body  are  to  render  your  residence  among  them 
convenient  and  agreeable."  Going  on  to  express  their  convic- 
tion that  Congress  would  take  all  proper  measures  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  commerce,  the  address  thus  emphatically  con- 
cludes ;  "  Because,  until  our  national  flag  be  rendered  respecta- 
ble, and  our  public  credit  established,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  can  but  partially  enjoy  the  great  blessings  of 
liberty  and  peace  for  which  they  have  so  successfully  con- 
tended." 

At  the  annual  meeting  on  the  first  Tuesday  (3d)  of  May,  1785, 
John  Alsop  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Chamber,  which  is  entered 
on  the  minutes,  pleading  a  long  and  severe  attack  of  the  gout, 
as  an  explanation  of  his  absence  from  the  board,  and  that  and 
his  advancing  years,  as  reasons  for  declining  to  be  considered 
a  candidate  for  re-election. 

John  Alsop,  it  will  be  seen,  was  chosen  the  first  President 
after  the  restoration  of  New  York  to  the  American  forces.  He 
had  been  absent  from  the  city  during  the  whole  British  occu- 
pation. He  was  the  first  Vice  President  chosen  at  the  last 
May  meeting  held  in  1775,  before  the  British  rule  in  the  city 
commenced.  After  that  he  never  met  with  the  Board  till  that 
rule  had  ended,  and  until  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  free 
and  independent,  had  re-sanctioned  the  charter  of  the  Chamber. 

John  Alsop  could  not,  without  being  false  to  his  blood,  prove 
false  to  freedom.  Born  in  this  land,  he  sprang  from  a  soldier 
of  CromwelFs-^in  arms  against  oppression — Capt.  Eichard 
Alsop,  who  came  to  America  to  take  possession  of  a  considera- 
ble estate  near  Newtown,  (L.  I.,)  left  him  by  an  unoie.  He 
married  into  one  of  the  Dutch  families  of  Long  Island,  and  he 
was  the  great-grandfather  of  the  John  Alsop  of  whom  we  are 
now  speaking.  His  father,  John,  was  born  on  Long  Island, 
1697, — was  a  lawyer  of  repute,  and  settled  at  New  Windsor. 
He  subsequently  removed  with  his  family  to  this  city,  and  prac- 
ticed law  until  his  death  in  1761.  He  was  buried  in  Trinity 
church-yard,  leaving  two  sons,  John  and  Eichard,  both  of  whom 


70  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

applied  themselves  to  commerce.  Richard,  who  was  a  clerk 
in  the  house  of  Philip  Livingston,  removed  at  an  early  age  to 
Middletown,  Conn.,  and  died  there  in  1776.  John  remained 
in  New  York,  and  became  a  successful  and  opulent  merchant. 
He  was  a  man  of  large  stature,  fine  presence,  and  great  intelli- 
gence. His  early  political  bias,  and  it  never  changed,  was  for 
his  native  country ;  yet  he  did  not  look  without  dread  upon  a 
forcible  separation  from  the  mother  country.  Submission  to 
her  unjust  claims  he  never  dre'^med  of,  but  he  did  hope  and 
strive  to  bring  about  by  peaceful  means  an  adjustment  of  the 
controversy,  which,  while  honorable  to  us,  would  be  beneficial 
for  the  home  government.  He  was  high  in  the  confidence  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  and  on  the  25th  of  July,  1774,  he  was  elect- 
ed by  them  one  of  the  delegates  of  the  Congress  to  be  held 
In  Philadelphia. 

He  had  illustrious  colleagues,  Philip  Livingston,  Isaac  Low, 
James  Duane,  and  John  Jay. 

Decisive  as  this  step  appeared,  yet  did  not  the  Congress 
throw  away  the  scabbard.  The  addresses  they  issued  to  the 
British  nation,  and  yet  more  expressly  that  made  to  the  King, 
spoke  of  loyal  attachment,  and  of  the  hope  and  desire  that  all 
difficulties  would  be  removed.  Nor  was  the  Congress  or  Legis- 
lature of  the  Province  at  all  prepared  for  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  Opinion  then,  indeed,  was  not  as  far  advanc- 
ed as  at  the  Philadelphia  Congress,  for  when  the  President  of 
the  State  Provincial  Congress,  the  gallant  Gen.  Woodhull, 
moved  that  the  thanks  of  the  house  be  given  to  the  Represen- 
tatives of  the  Province  for  their  services  in  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  motion  was  lost,  9  ayes,  15  noes. 

Mr.  Alsop  was  now  fairly  launched  in  the  public  councils, 
and  in  1776,  he,  with  his  associates  in  the  Congress  of  1774, 
(except  Isaac  Low,)  was  again  sent  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  at  the  same  time  they  were  chosen  members  of  the 
Provincial  Congress.  The  Provincial  Congress,  still  halting 
between  two  opinions,  had  confined  their  instructions  to  their 
delegates  in  the  Contiuental  Congress  to  means  of  reconcilia- 
tion with  England.  Up  to  this  period  very  few  persons  in 
New  York  had  thought  seriously  of  independence.  A  hope 
still  lingered  and  was  cherished,  that  the  ties  of  language,  laws 
and  lineage  would  be  strong  enough  to  hold  together  the  two 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  71 

countries,  and  that  redress  to  America  might  be  obtained  with- 
out separation  from  England.  The  Provincial  Congress,  as  we 
have  seen,  partook  of  this  feeling,  and  at  any  rate  did  not  look 
upon  themselves  as  authorized  to  shake  off  allegiance  to  Great 
Britain,  and  change  the  form  of  government  without  the  direct 
assent  of  the  people.  On  the  27th  May,  1776,  therefore,  a 
proposition  was  carried  in  that  body — that  in  view  of  the 
present  circumstances  of  the  country,  a  convention  be  chosen 
by  the  people  to  decide  upon  the  proper  course  to  be  adopted, 
and  meanwhile  that  they,  the  Provincial  Congress,  would  only 
exercise  such  powers  as  were  clearly  delegated  to  them.  While 
the  Provincial  Congress  was  thus  hesitating,  the  Continental 
Congress  had  already  broached  the  subject  of  Independence, 
and  on  the  28th  of  June,  1776,  the  New  York  delegates  wrote 
as  follows  to  the  Provincial  Congress : 

"  Your  delegates  have  expected  that  the  question  of  Inde- 
pendence will  very  shortly  be  agitated  in  Congress.  Some  of 
us  consider  ourselves  as  bound  by  our  instructions  not  to  vote 
on  that  question,  and  all  wish  to  have  your  sentiments  thereon. 
The  matter  will  admit  of  no  delay.  We  have,  therefore,  sent 
an  express,  who  will  await  your  orders."  This  letter  was  read, 
as  the  journals  state,  with  dosed  doors.  The  original  instruc- 
tions to  their  delegates  empowered  them  only  to  consent  to  and 
determine  on  such  measures  as  should  be  "  effectual  for  the  re- 
establishment  and  preservation  of  American  rights  and  privi- 
leges, and  the  restoration  of  harmony  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonies." — With  such  power,  it  is  clear  they  could 
take  no  efficient  part  in  the  deliberations  for  Independence. 
John  Jay  and  others  of  the  delegates  went  home  to  ascertain 
the  views  of  the  people  and  Congress  of  New  York — but  still 
no  new  instructions  were  given  to  them,  nor  sent  to  the  delegates 
who  remained  in  Philadelphia. 

Yet  matters  pressed.  Sir  Wm.  Howe  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook 
on  the  25th  June,  and  three  days  afterward  was  joined  by  all 
the  fleet  and  forces  from  Halifax.  The  Provincial  Congress 
invested  Gen.  Washington  with  full  power,  and  on  the  30th  re- 
tired themselves  from  New  York  to  White  Plains. 

A  second  letter  now  came  from  the  delegates  in  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  inclosing  a  draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence reported  on  28th  June.     On  2d  July  another  letter 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

was  despatched  by  the  delegates,  Mr.  Livingston  and  Mr.  Al- 
sop — ^the  other  two,  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr.  Duane,  being  in  atten- 
dance on  the  Provincial  Congress — stating  their  embarrass- 
ment for  want  of  instructions.  Every  other  colony  but  New 
York  had  given  their  delegates  positive  instructions  to  vote  for 
independence,  or  left  them  free  "to  act  according  to  their  own 
judgment.  As  for  themselves,  their  hands  were  tied;  they 
could  vote  neither  one  way  nor  the  other.  What  shall  we  do  1 
— say  they — retire,  or  remain? — and  if  remaining,  shall  we 
vote  or  not?  Our  situation  is  singular  and  delicate.  We  wait, 
then,  your  earliest  advices  and  instructions,  whether  we  are  to 
consider  our  Colony  bound  by  the  vote  of  the  majority  in  favor 
of  Independence.  Once  possessed  of  your  instructions  we  will 
use  our  best  endeavor  to  follow  them." 

No  new  instructions  were  given,  notwithstanding  these  ur- 
gent appeals,  and  of  course  the  old  instructions  stood,  and  In- 
dependence was  declared  without  the  vote  of  New  York.  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  his  correspondence  referring  to  this  occurrence, 
says :  ♦*  The  delegates  from  New  York  declared  they  were  for 
it  themselves,  and  were  assured  their  constituents  were,  but  as 
they  had  no  authority  by  their  instructions,  they  thought  them- 
selves not  justifiable  in  voting  on  either  side,  and  asked  leave 
to  withdraw  from  the  question,  which  was  granted." 

The  President  of  Congress,  John  Hancock,  in  a  letter  dated 
6th  July,  communicated  to  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York  a  copy  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  adopted  on 
the  4th.  The  house  immediately,  on  the  9th  July,  went  into 
consideration  of  it,  snad  unanimously  passed  this  resolution: 

'•That  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Continental  Congress  for 
declaring  the  United  Colonies  free  and  independent,  are  cogent 
and  conclusive;  and  that  while  we  lament  the  cruel  necessity 
which  has  rendered  the  measure  unavoidable,  we  approve  the 
same,  and  will,  at  the  risk  of  our  lives  and  fortunes,  join  with 
the  other  Colonies  in  supporting  it — and  that  the  delegates  of 
this  State  in  the  Continental  Congress  be  and  they  hereby  are 
authorized  to  consult,  and  adopt  all  such  measures  as  they  may 
deem  conducive  to  the  happiness  and  welfare  of  the  United 
States." 

The  sudden  change  of  feeling  indicated  by  the  unanimous 
adoption  of  this  resolution,  from  a  state  of  hesitation,  doubt  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER-  73 

inaction,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  leave  unanswered  the  urgent 
appeals  of  their  delegates  for  instructions,  may  be  explained 
in  part,  possibly,  by  the  consideration  that  the  step  was  taken 
irrevocably  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and  that  there  was 
no  longer  room,  therefore,  for  deliberation  or  dissent.*  How- 
ever that  may  be,  John  Alsop  felt  himself  slighted  by  the  course 
of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and  in  a  letter  to  that  body,  dated 
Philadelphia,  16th  July,  he  thus  gives  vent  to  his  feelings; 

"GrENTLEMEN:  Yesterday  our  President  read  in  Congress  a 
resolve  of  your  honorable  body,  on  the  9th  instant,  in  which 
you  declare  New  York  a  free  and  independent  State.  I  cannot 
help  saying  I  am  much  surprised  to  find  it  coming  through  this 

*  This  seeming  inconsistency  is  explained  in  the  following  extract, 
which  shows  that  the  body  which  declared  New  York  an  independent 
State,  was  a  different  one  from  that  which  hesitated  to  give  instructions 
to  their  delegates  in  Congress. 

Extract  from  the  Life  of  General  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  in  Knapp^s  Ameri- 
can Biography,  page  375. 

"  On  the  28th  August,  1775,  General  Woodhull  was  elected  President  of 
the  Provincial  Congress,  and  held  the  same  office  in  the  body  that  suc- 
ceeded it  in  1776.  Doubting  its  powers  to  conform  to  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Continental  Congress,  by  erecting  a  new  form  of  government 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  foreign  control,  the  Provincial  Congress,  on  the  31st 
May,  1776,  recommended  to  the  electors  of  the  several  counties,  to  vest 
the  necessary  power  either  in  their  present  members,  or  in  others  to  be 
chosen  in  their  stead.  The  British  army  having,  on  the  30th  June,  ap- 
peared off  the  harbor  of  New  York,  the  Provincial  Congress,  on  its  ad- 
journment that  day,  directed  that  the  Congress  in  which  the  new  powers 
were  vested,  and  which  was  to  assemble  on  the  8th  July,  should  meet  at 
White  Plains.  They  did  not  in  fact  assemble  until  the  9tli  July,  1776, 
when  Gen.  Woodhull  was  chosen  President. 

"  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  passed  on  the  4th  instant,  had  not 
received  the  unanimous  approbation  of  the  Colonies  in  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  delegates  from  the  Colony  of  New  York  having  declined  to 
vote,  because,  although  they  were  personally  for  the  measure,  and  believ- 
ed their  constituents  to  be  so,  they  were  fettered  by  instructions  drawn 
nearly  a  twelvemonth  before,  when  the  hope  of  reconciliation  was  yet 
cherished.  Immediately  on  their  meeting,  the  new  Provincial  Congress 
unanimously  adopted  the  Declaration,  (Gen.  Woodhull  presiding,)  on  the 
part  of  the  People  of  New  York ;  thus  filling  the  void  occasioned  by  the 
want  of  the  necessary  powers  in  their  delegates  at  Philadelphia.  On  the 
next  day  they  assumed  the  title  of  '  the  Convention  of  the  Representatives 
of  the  State  of  Neic  York,^  and  subsequently  formed  the  first  Constitution 
of  the  State. 

10 


74  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

channel.  The  usual  method  hitherto  practised,  has  been  for 
the  Convention  of  each  Colony  to  give  their  delegates  instruc- 
tions to  act  and  vote  upon  all  and  any  important  questions. 
And  in  the  last  letter  we  were  favored  with  from  your  body, 
you  told  us  you  were  not  competent  or  authorised  to  give  us  in- 
structions on  the  grand  question ;  nor  have  you  been  pleased  to 
answer  our  letter  of  2d  instant,  otherwise  than  by  your  resolve 
transmitted  to  the  President.  I  think  we  were  entitled  to  an 
answer." 

This  is  the  expression  of  natural  and  manly  indignation  at 
an  unmerited  slight. 

Mr.  Alsop  concluded  this  letter  by  declaring  that  it  was 
against  his  judgment  and  inclination  that  the  door  of  reconcili- 
ation with  Great  Britain  should  be  closed,  and  therefore  tend- 
ered his  resignation  as  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress. 
This  was  accepted;  and  here  terminates  Mr.  Alsop's  political 
life. 

The  city  of  New  York  being  now  in  possession  of  the  Brit- 
ish, with  whom  this  country  was  at  open  war,  Mr.  Alsop  hesi- 
tated not  at  all  as  to  his  course ;  for  he  was  thoroughly  a  Whig, 
although  not  yet  believing  in  the  unavoidable  separation  of  the 
two  countries — but  abandoning  his  property  and  large  mercan- 
tile interests  in  New  York,  he  withdrew  to  Middletown,  Ct., 
where  resided  his  brother  Richard,  and  remained  there  until 
the  evacuation  of  the  city  in  1783. 

He  was  then  chosen  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
as  has  been  already  stated,  and  resumed  his  mercantile  opera- 
tions, and  was  a  large  and  fortunate  underwriter,  before  the  era 
of  incorporated  insurance  companies. 

Mr.  Alsop  lost  his  wife  in  1773 — leaving  him  with  an  only 
child,  a  daughter,  who  was  married  in  the  year  1787  to  Rufus 
King,  then  a  delegate  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  sitting  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Alsop  survived  till  1795,  when  he  died  in  the  full  pos- 
session of  his  faculties,  though  at  a  very  advanced  age,  with  a 
reputation  unstained,  and  amid  the  general  respect. 

The  following  officers  w^ere  chosen  by  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce at  the  May  meeting  in  1785 — after  Mr.  Alsop's  declin- 
ing a  re-election:  John  Broome,  President;  William  Consta- 
ble, 1st  Vice  President;  Paschall  A.  Smith,  2d  Vice  President; 
Joshua  Sands,  Treasurer;  Adam  Gilchrist,  Jr.,  Secretary. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  75 

A  special  meeting  was  held  on  Monday,  the  16th  May,  to 
consider  of  a  circular  letter  from  Boston  of  22d  April,  signed 
by  John  Hancock  and  several  other  merchants,  which  enclosed 
Resolutions  passed  by  the  people  of  Boston  in  town  meeting,  on 
16th  April.  The  letter  sets  forth  the  alarming  situation  of  our 
commercial  intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  "the  necessity  of  a 
commercial  treaty  between  the  two  countries,  as,  from  want  of 
such  a  treaty,  and  the  foolish  predilection  of  too  many  of  our 
citizens  for  the  manufactures  of  that  nation,  we  are  principally 
subjected  to  the  inconveniences  we  now  experience."  The  let- 
ter farther  sets  forth  that  by  reason  of  the  rigorous  execution  of 
her  navigation  acts,  by  the  discouragements  of  all  sorts  thrown 
in  the  way  of  American  exports,  and  of  American  navigation, 
no  remittances  other  than  in  cash  can  be  made  for  the  merchan- 
dise imported,  thus  producing  a  general  complaint  of  the  want 
of  a  sufficient  medium  to  answer  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life. 
The  only  eifectual  remedy  for  this  evil  state  of  things,  is,  in  the 
words  of  this  letter,  "  the  vesting  Congress  with  full  power  to  regu- 
late the  internal  as  well  as  external  commerce  of  all  the  States," 
and  it  therefore  calls  upon  the  Chamber  for  an  immediate  ap- 
plication "to  the  State  to  vest  such  power  in  Congress  (if  they 
have  not  already  done  so)  as  shall  be  competent  to  the  great 
and  interesting  purpose  of  placing  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States  upon  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  with  every  other  na- 
tion:" and  farther  "to  petition  Congress  (when  they  shall  be 
vested  with  such  authority)  to  make  such  internal  regulations 
as  shall  have  that  happy  effect  to  encourage  attention  to  our 
manufactures,  and  remove  the  embarrassments  under  which 
trade  at  present  labors."  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  wisely 
deeming  that  this  was  a  subject  too  large  to  be  deliberated  upon 
or  decided  by  their  single  corporation,  resolved  to  call  a  public 
meeting  of  all  the  citizens,  at  the  City  Hall,  on  Wednesday, 
15th  June,  and  requested  the  President  of  the  Chamber  to  at- 
tend and  explain  the  objects  of  the  meeting. 

No  report  from  the  President  of  the  result  of  this  public  meet- 
ing, is  entered  upon  the  minutes,  nor  is  there  any  farther  allu- 
sion to  it. 

The  minutes  of  3d  January,  1786,  present  the  memorial  of 
Christopher  Collis  to  the  Chamber,  asking  their  aid  to  an  enter- 
prise he  meditated,  and  which  had  received  encouragement  from 


76  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

the  Legislature — no  less  than  connecting  the  City  hy  artificial 
navigation  icitJi  the  lakes — the  germ  of  the  Erie  Canal!  The 
memorial  runs  thus : 

''Your  memorialist  has  formed  a  design  of  opening  an  inter- 
course with  the  interior  parts  of  iha  United  States,  by  an  artifi- 
cial inland  navigation,  along  the  Mohawk  River  and  Wood 
Creek  to  the  great  lakes — a  design  which  must  evidently  ex- 
tend to  the  commerce  of  this  city  with  exceeding  rapidity  be- 
yond what  it  can  possibly  arrive  at  by  any  other  means;  a  de- 
sign which  Providence  has  manifestly  pointed  out,  and  which, 
in  the  hands  of  a  commercial  people,  must  evidently  tend  to 
make  them  great  and  powerful;  and  which,  though  indefinite 
in  its  advantages,  may  be  effected  for  a  sum  perfectly  trifling 
when  compared  with  the  advantages." 

The  memorialist  adds  that  he  had  applied  to,  and  received 
encouragement  from,  the  legislature — that  he  had  examined 
the  ground  "  at  the  Cohoes,  the  Little  Falls,  and  Fort  Schuy- 
ler," and  found  that  no  considerable  difiiculty  existed ;  finally, 
that  he  had  secured  "  a  number  of  respectable  gentlemen  as 
subscribers,"  and  asked  for  the  countenance  and  subscription 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  That  body  returned  an  answer 
to  Mr.  Oollis,  that  they  entertained  the  highest  idea  of  the  uti- 
lity of  his  scheme,  wished  it  all  success,  but  that  as  a  Copora- 
tion  they  had  no  funds. 

This  was  in  January,  1786,  little  more  than  two  years  after 
the  evacuation  of  the  city — and  indicates,  under  the  circum- 
stances of  prostration  and  discouragement  in  which  the  com- 
merce, currency  and  resources  of  the  country  were  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  the  remarkable  spirit  of  enterprise  and  sagacious 
looking  into  the  future,  which  forty  years  later  had  its  full 
scope  and  fruition  in  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal. 

The  Legislature,  at  its  session  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1786,  having  under  discussion  a  scheme  for  issuing  Paper  Mo- 
ney, and  making  it  a  legal  tender,  the  Chamber,  on  the  28th 
February,  adopted  a  memorial  setting  forth  the  evils  and  immo- 
rality of  such  an  issue,  and  caused  copies  thereof  to  be  circu- 
lated for  signatures  all  through  the  city.  It  is  a  most  able 
memorial,  setting  forth,  in  the  clearest  light,  the  evils  of  such 
a  course.  A  single  extract  is  quoted  to  show  the  vigor  of 
thought  and  of  style  in  which  the  paper  is  written. 


HISTORY   OP  THE   CHAMBER.  77 

"Without  attempting  a  discussion  of  the  subject  at  large, 
your  memorialists  respectfully  beg  leave  to  submit  a  few  re- 
marks which  to  them  appear  unanswerable. 

"1st — If  the  paper  emitted  should  stand  on  such  a  basis  as 
to  render  it  in  the  public  estimation  equal  to  gold  and  silver, 
the  intervention  of  legislative  authority  to  enforce  its  reception, 
must  be  unnecessary.  If  it  should  not  stand  on  such  a  basis, 
that  intervention  would  be  unjust  and  indefensible  on  any 
principle  of  morality  or  public  utility. 

**  It  would  be  by  law  to  enable  the  debtor  to  defraud  his 
creditor. 

"It  would  be  by  law  to  give  the  property  of  one  set  of  men 
to  another. 

"  It  would  be  by  law  to  involve  creditors  in  ruiii,  in  order  to 
save  debtors  from  distress. 

"  It  would  be  by  law  to  undermine  all  the  principles  of  private 
credit,  private  faith,  and  private  honesty. 

"If  it  were  to  be  admitted  in  its  fullest  extent  that  many 
debtors  will  be  ruined,  what  interest  has  the  State  in  substitut- 
ing one  set  of  ruined  men  to  another  set  of  ruined  men?" 

The  whole  memorial  is  couched  in  like  terse  and  forcible 
language,  and  seems  to  have  excited  quite  a  commotion  in  the 
legislature,  for  they  refused  to  print  it — and  when  it  was  up 
next  day,  and  was  read  as  part  of  the  minutes,  that  portion  of 
the  minutes  was  ordered  to  be  obliterated.  The  truth  was  too 
reproachful  to  be  permitted  to  stand.  As  it  may  possibly  in- 
terest some  readers  to  know  the  exact  course  which  this  matter 
took  in  the  legislature,  I  have  thrown  into  a  note,  explanatory 
extracts  from  the  journals  of  the  legislature,  kindly  looked  up 
for  me  by  the  Assistant  Librarian  of  the  Historical  Society, 
Mr.  Geo.  H.  Moore.* 


*  In  the  Assembly,  Jan.  21,  178C.  Mr.  Paine  moved  for  a  Committee 
of  one  from  each  county  to  devise  the  best  method  for  emitting  a  paper 
currency,  and  for  considering  and  reporting  means  and  measures  for  dis- 
charging the  public  debts. 

Carried — and  Committee  app.  (12)  Journal,]).  15. 

Committee  reported  on  Feb.  4.  Bill  ordered,  &c.  ifec,  for  emitting 
£200,000  in  bills  of  credit  of  this  State.  Same  Com.  with  the  addition  of 
two  new  members. 

Bill  reported  and  read  Feb.  6. 


78  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  May,  '86,  John  Broome  was  re- 
elected President. 

As  exemplifying  manners  at  this  early  day,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  in  the  minutes  of  the  30th  June  is  this  entry : 

"  The  President  produced  a  letter  from  Chas.  Thomson,  Sec- 
retary of  Congress,  informing  the  Chamber  that  there  would  be 
a  public  levee  at  the  house  of  the  President  of  Congress,  from 
12  to  2  o'clock  on  the  4th  July." 

The  matter  was  referred  to  a  Committee,  and  they  reported, 
and  the  Board  resolved  that  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  should 
meet  and  proceed  as  a  distinct  organization  to  the  levee. 

On  the  13th  February,  '87,  it  was  resolved  that 

"  Such  merchants,  being  citizens  of  this  State,  as  were  mem- 
bers of  this  corporation,  antecedent  to  the  confirmation  of  the 
charter  by  a  law  of  the  State  of  New  York,  passed  10th  April, 
'84,  shall  be  and  hereby  are  admitted  and  declared  to  be  mem- 
bers thereof — provided  that  they  respectively  attend  the  Cham- 
ber at  a  stated  meeting,  and  signify  their  consent  to  be  consid- 
ered members  on  or  before  the  first  Tuesday  in  June  next." 


Feb.  7.     Referred  to  Cora,  of  the  Whole  House. 

Progress  reported  Feb.  JO.  Feb.  11,  13,  14,  1.5,  IQ,  17,  18,  20,  21,  22. 
(Petitions  received  and  referred  to  the  Com.)  23. — (Harper's  amendment 
making  the  bills  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  all  debts  and  contracts,  «fec., 
rejected,)  25.  (Same  amendment  reconsidered  and  negatived,  and  Mr. 
Schoonmaker  moved  tlie  clause  in  the  act  No.  LX.  (see  below,)  which 
was  adopted,)  28,  March  1. 

March  2d.  A  Memorial  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  read.  Refer- 
ence moved  to  the  Committee  above  and  negatived.  Motion  to  enter  it 
on  the  Journal,  voted  down. 

March  3d.  Memorial  being  read  as  a  part  of  the  Minutes,  ordered  to  be 
obliterated. 

Memorial  referred  to  a  Committee  of  Five,  Messrs.  Boyd,  Troup,  Liv- 
ingston, Havens,  and  Pell. 

March  3d.  Committee  on  the  Bill  having  informed  the  House  of  their 
readiness  to  report,  Mr.  Gardner  moved  a  postponement  of  consideration 
of  the  Bill  till  the  Committee  on  the  Memorial  should  report,  which  mo- 
tion did  not  prevail.  Mr.  Gordon  then  moved  to  strike  out  the  Section 
LX.  (see  below) — negatived.  Mr.  Trup  then  moved  that  the  Bill  be  re- 
jected— negatived. 

Bill  ordered  to  be  engrossed. 

March  4th.  Mr.  Gordon  moved  a  resolution  to  order  the  Printer  to  the 
State  to  print  in  his  paper  the  Memorial,  &c. — not  allowed. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  79 

This  was  a  peace-oifering  to  those  who,  having  remained  in 
the  city  during  the  British  occupation,  had,  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  been  looked  upon  with  averted  eyes. 

At  the  meeting  in  June,  of  this  year,  it  was  resolved  that  the 
members  of  the  Chamber  would  dine  together,  on  the  4th  July, 
at  Bradford's  Coffee  House — and  that  such  other  citizens  as 
might  choose,  be  invited  to  unite  in  the  dinner.  "  Fifteen  shil- 
lings for  each,"  says  the  report  recommending  this  patriotic 
dinner,  "would,  with  economy,  probably  be  adequate  to  the  ex- 
penses of  the  entertainment."  Prices  as  well  as  times  and  men 
have  changed  very  considerably  since  then,  and  40s.  or  -So,  is 
now  about  the  lowest  mark  for  like  festivals. 

At  the  September  meeting  a  revision  of  the  By-Laws  was  dis- 
cussed and  adopted.  Also  regulations  respecting  damages  on 
Bills  of  Exchange,  commissions  on  Business,  quality  and  weight 


March  6th.  Engrossed  Bill  read  a  third  time  and  passed.  Sent  to  Sen- 
ate, &c. 

Senate. — March  7th.  Bill  received  from"  Assembly  and  ordered  to  a  sec- 
ond reading'. 

March  8th.  Committed  to  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  with  it  the  Me- 
morial and  Petition  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  a  Petition  of  600 
inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York,  &c.  &c. 

Progress  reported  March  10,  13,  14.  (Memorial  of  Merchants,  &c.)  15, 
16,  23,  28,  29,  (question  whether  the  money  emitted  should  be  a  tender, 
decided  in  the  negative,  and  Section  LX.  amended,  &c.  &c.)  Sent  to  the 
Assembly  for  concurrence  in  amendments. 

April  1st.  Bill  returned  from  Assembly — various  amendments  not  con- 
curred in,  and  the  Senate  receded  from  all  but  two,  and  on 

April  6th.  They  came  to  an  agreement,  &c. 

Session  Laws,  9th  Session.— 1786. 

An  Act  for  emitting  the  sum  of  Two  Hundred  Thousand  Pounds  in  bills 
of  credit,  for  the  purposes  therein  mentioned.  Passed  the  18th  of  April, 
1786. 

Sect.  LVII.  [Gold  and  silver  and  the  bills  emitted  by  this  Act  only  to 
be  received  for  duties  by  the  Collector.] 

Sect.  LX.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the 
bills  of  credit  to  be  emitted  by  virtue  of  this  Act,  shall  be  a  legal  tender  in 
all  cases  when  any  suit  is  or  shall  be  brought  or  commenced  for  any  debt 
or  damages,  and  the  cost  of  suit,  in  any  stage  of  the  proceedings  thereof — 
provided  always,  that  nothing  in  this  Act  shall  extend  to  contravene  any 
treaty  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  any  Foreign  State  or 
Power. 


80  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

of  Goods,  &c.  Among  the  By-Laws  then  adopted  was  one  to 
the  effect,  that  any  member  of  the  Corporation  refusing  to  sub- 
mit to  the  Arbitration  Committee,  or  other  members  of  the  Cham- 
ber, any  matters  of  account  which  they  may  be  concerned  in,  he 
expelled  the  Cliamher.  A  motion  to  reconsider  this  resolution 
was  made  by  Gen.  Malcolm,  at  the  December  meeting,  and  lost. 

The  Chamber  occupied  itself  with  all  the  subjects  of  interest 
to  commerce,  and  occasionally  went  farther,  as  at  the  Septem- 
ber meeting,  1788,  they  resolved, 

"That  the  President,  in  behalf  of  the  Chamber,  wait  upon  his 
Worship  the  Mayor,  to  request  that  the  Corporation  would  be 
pleased  to  fit  up  and  repair  the  City  Hall  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  make  it  convenient  as  possible  for  the  reception  of  Congress, 
which  is  to  meet  in  this  city  in  March  next." 

At  the  next  meeting  in  October  an  additional  resolution  was 
passed,  which,  after  setting  forth  the  great  advantage  to  the 
city  and  state,  that  Congress  should  meet  in  New  York,  requir- 
ed the  Chamber  to  make  efforts  with  the  Legislature  for  the 
passing  of  a  law  that  the  expenses  incurred  in  providing  for  the 
accommodation  of  Congress  be  a  charge  against  the  State. 

It  has  been  noticed  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  memoir,  that 
in  grateful  remembrance  of  Lieut.  Governor  Colden's  ready 
compliance  with  the  request  of  the  founders  of  the  Association 
that  he  would  grant  to  it  an  act  of  incorporation,  a  picture  of 
the  Lieut.  Governor  was  painted  for,  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
Chamber. 

On  the  1st  February,  1790,  Vice  President  Murray  notified 
the  Chamber  that  this  picture,  in  good  preservation,  was  in 
hands  which  were  willing  to  restore  it  to  its  owners ;  where- 
upon the  President  was  requested  to  write  to  the  person  indi- 
cated, and  ask  for  its  restoration.  It  was,  accordingly,  restor- 
ed to  the  Chamber  in  May,  1793,  by  Cadwallader  D.  Colden, 
Esq.,  a  son  of  the  Lieut.  Governor,  and  ordered  to  be  framed. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mr.  P.  M. 
Wetmore,  whose  zeal  and  intelligence  in  all  he  undertakes,  are 
not  less  prized  by  this  Society,  of  which  he  is  an  honored  and 
most  useful  member,  than  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce — at 
my  request  furnished  the  curious  information  concerning  this 
picture,  and  other  objects  valuable  to  the  Chamber,  embraced 
in  the  annexed  letter : 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  81 

New  York,  November  20,  1848. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  In  reply  to  your  note  asking  for  any  information  of  in- 
terest relating  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  I  will  state,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  one  or  two  incidents  which  may  be  deemed  worthy  of  notice  in 
your  proposed  discourse. 

When  I  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  Secretary  of  the 
Chamber,  in  1843, 1  received  a  single  volume  of  minutes  of  its  proceedings, 
and  could  not  learn,  on  inquiry  of  my  predecessors,  that  any  previous 
volumes  were  extant.  Possessing  something  of  an  antiquarian  disposi- 
tion, I  was  not  content  to  believe  that  the  history  of  so  ancient  an  incor- 
poration could  be  thus  imperfect.  After  diligent  inquiry,  and  tracing  the 
affairs  back  through  a  number  of  years,  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find,  in 
a  lumber  box  at  a  store  in  Front-street,  the  two  volumes  of  early  records 
now  in  your  possession.  They  form  a  complete  series  from  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  institution,  in  1768,  to  the  present  time.  A  short  hiatus  oc- 
curs at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  and  it  is  probable  that  no  sessions  of 
the  Chamber  were  held  during  that  period. 

While  occupied  in  my  search  for  the  missing  records,  I  accidentally 
learned  that  in  the  garret  of  a  store  in  Coffee  House  Slip — (I  am  quite 
sure  you  will  sanction  the  use  of  that  old,  familiar  designation,  rather 
than  the  more  modern  one  ofWall  street,)  were  to  be  found  two  large 
frames,  supposed  to  be  the  property  of  the  Chamber.  Upon  removing  the 
canvass  covering  and  the  coat  of  mjldew  and  dust  within,  I  had  the  great 
satisfaction  of  discovering  two  fin6  historical  portraits.  The  injuries  re- 
sulting from  long  exposure  and  a  few  accidents  were  soon  repaired,  and 
these  fine  pictures  now  occupy  prominent  positions  in  the  gallery  of  the 
Historical  Society,  where  they  were  deposited  for  safe  custody  by  au- 
thority of  the  Chamber. 

The  portrait  of  Lieut.  Governor  Cadwallader  Colden,  the  Executive 
officer  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  at  the  period  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  Chamber,  is  by  an  artist  of  the  name  of  Pine,  whose  history  is  un- 
known to  me.  The  other  is  unquestionably  the  best  full  length  portrait 
extant  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  It  is  a  production  of  great  merit,  and 
bears  evidence  of  being  from  the  hand  of  Trumbull,  and  yet  no  mention 
is  made  of  it  in  Dunlap's  work.  If  it  be  Trumbull's  it  is  certainly  one  of 
his  best  portraits.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  allusion  to  it  in  the 
minutes. 

These  pictures  are  remembered  as  having  been  conspicuous  ornaments 
of  the  room  occupied  by  the  Chamber  in  the  old  Merchants'  Exchange, 
and  were  saved  from  the  flames  when  that  building  was  destroyed,  in  the 
great  conflagration  on  the  morning  of  December  16th,  1835.  Whenever 
the  merchants  of  New  York  shall  evince  enough  of  public  spirit  to  pro- 
vide a  suitable  building  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Chamber,  and  thus 
secure  a  local  habitation  for  so  ancient  and  honorable  an  association,  the 
custody  of  these  fine  paintings  will  doubtless  be  resumed.  They  should 
be  regarded  as  the  beginning,  only,  of  a  gallery  of  portraits  illustrating 
our  history  as  a  commercial  people. 
11 


82  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

The  seal  of  the  Chamber,  which  I  send  you  with  this,  is  an  interesting 
memorial  of  past  times.  It  is  of  massive  silver,  about  three  inches  in  di- 
ameter, and  was  made  in  London.  It  bears  date  1770,  the  year  of  the 
Society's  incorporation. 

A  somewhat  curious  story  attaches  to  this  seal.  Some  years  after  the 
Revolution,  a  gentleman  interested  in  the  affairs  of  this  country,  in  look- 
ing through  a  sort  of  curiosity  shop  in  London,  where  a  miscellaneous 
collection  of  personal  effects  was  displayed  to  catch  the  eye  of  a  purcha- 
ser, fortunately  discovered  this  signet  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
New  York.  He  immediately  secured  the  valuable  estray,  and  with  com- 
mendable patriotism  restored  it  to  the  proper  custody.  I  regret  that  I  am 
unable  to  give  you  his  name.  If  access  could  be  had  to  the  papers  of  the 
late  John  Pintard,  for  many  years  Secretary  of  the  Chamber,  and  a 
thorough  antiquarian  in  feeling  and  practice,  many  authentic  and  inter- 
esting details  relating  to  this  and  other  incidents  belonging  to  your  sub- 
ject, would  doubtless  be  found.  It  was  the  habitual  occupation  of  Mr. 
Pintard  to  record  everything  of  this  nature,  and  his  diary  must  be  rich 
in  historical  details. 

If  I  mistake  not,  Anthony  Van  Dam,  who  was  the  first  secretary  of  the 
Chamber,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  until  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, went  to  England  among  the  royalists  expatriated  at  that  period. 
He  became,  I  believe,  an  agent  of  the  underwriters  at  Lloyd's.  Is  it  not 
fair  to  suppose  that  through  some  inadvertency  of  his,  as  he  was  the  legal 
custodier  of  the  article,  our  seal  found  its  way  to  London,  and  after  his 
death,  into  the  hands  of  the  dealer  in  second-hand  wares  ?  There  was  a 
tablet  to  the  memory  of  Van  Dam  erected  in  one  of  our  city  churches, 
(St.  Paul's,  I  think,)  by  Mr.  Pintard. 

In  my  search  for  objects  of  interest  connected  with  the  past  history  of 
the  Chamber,  my  attention  was  naturally  directed  to  the  original  charter, 
granted  by  Lieut.  Gov  Colden,  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  George  III., 
and  which  I  knew  had  been  in  existence  some  few  years  previously. 
Every  effort  in  my  power  was  made  at  the  time,  and  has  been  continued 
since,  but  as  yet  without  success,  for  the  recovery  of  this  interesting  link 
in  our  historical  chain. 

There  is  a  bit  of  history,  also,  connected  with  this  old  charter.  Some 
five-and-twenty  years  ago,  Admiral  Walton,  of  the  British  Navy,  succeed- 
ed by  inheritance  to  the  property  of  his  family  in  this  city ;  and  on  tak- 
ing possession,  among  a  vast  accumulation  of  miscellaneous  lumber, 
boxes,  baskets  and  chests,  articles  of  domestic  economy,  dragoon  saddles 
and  Hessian  muskets,  in  the  spacious  attic  of  "  Walton  House,"  in  Pearl 
street,  was  found  the  original  charter  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  It 
was  very  large,  about  three  feet  in  width,  with  the  massive  waxen  seal  of 
the  crown,  six  inches  in  diameter,  attached,  and  the  whole  carefully  en- 
cased in  tin  and  enclosed  in  mahogany.  The  Admiral  immediately  made 
known  the  discovery  to  Mr.  Pintard,  who  took  possession  of  the  document. 
Secretary  Van  Dam  was  known  to  have  been  an  intimate  friend,  pro- 
bably a  relative,  of  the  Walton  family.    WilUam  Walton  had  once  been 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  83 

President  of  the  Chamber.  These  facts  may  account  for  the  situation  in 
which  the  charter  had  been  found,  and  we  must  therefore  believe  that  this 
instrument  had  lain  undisturbed  in  the  recesses  of  Walton  House  for  the 
period  of  nearly  half  a  century. 

On  the  night  of  the  great  fire,  the  mahogany  case  containing  the  char- 
ter, was  seen  in  the  room  occupied  by  the  Chamber  at  the  Exchange. 
As  everything  portable  was  supposed  to  have  been  removed  from  the 
building  before  its  destruction,  I  indulged  for  some  time  a  confident  hope 
of  being  able  to  recover  the  old  charter.  In  this,  I  regret  to  say,  I  have 
been  disappointed.  If  it  was  saved  from  the  fire,  it  has  ever  since  been 
so  carefully  guarded  that  the  most  diligent  research  has  not  been  suc- 
cessful in  tracing  its  whereabout.  Like  the  old  seal,  it  may  yet  turn  up 
in  some  unexpected  manner,  and  then  our  memorials  of  an  existence  of 
fourscore  years  will  be  complete. 

I  am  persuaded  that  you  have  found  the  subject  in  your  hands  one  of 
deep  interest,  and  I  rejoice  that  the  rise  and  progress  of  our  commerce, 
the  intelligence,  enterprise,  integrity  and  patriotism  of  those  who  have 
given  name  and  character  to  our  community,  are  hereafter  to  be  matters 
of  history,  and  not  merely  of  tradition. 

I  wish  you  may  be  able  to  infuse  into  the  great  body  of  our  merchants 
something  of  that  true  esprit  du  corps  which  has  so  often  given  power, 
and  influence,  and  honor  to  commercial  communities  in  other  countries. 

Why  should  not  measures  be  taken  for  an  annual  commemoration  of 
the  founding  of  our  institution,  and  thus  assurance  be  given  to  those  who 
come  after  us,  that  civil  conquests,  won  by  the  zeal  and  enterprise  of  for- 
mer generations,  will  not  be  suffBred  to  pass  away  unnoticed  and  unre- 
corded? I  am,  dear  Sir, 

With  true  respect  and  regard,  yours, 

PEOSPER  M.  WETMORE. 

Charles  King,  Esq.,  &c.  «fcc.,  New  York. 

The  Pilots  of  New  York  seem,  at  this  early  day,  to  have 
given  trouble  and  dissatisfaction,  for  at  the  meeting  in  Decem- 
ber, 1791,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  pres- 
ent regulations  and  conduct  of  the  pilots  belonging  to  this  port. 
At  the  next  meeting  this  committee  reported,  and  the  Chamber, 
accepting  their  report,  resolved  that,  "the  President  be  re- 
quested to  forward  it  to  the  members  of  Congress  who  represent 
this  State,  soliciting  their  influence  to  have  the  spirit  thereof 
introduced  into  any  law  which  may  be  brought  forward  for  the 
general  regulation  of  pilots." 

This  is  interesting  at  this  time,  as  bearing  upon  a  question 
now  agitated  with  apparent  seriousness — as  to  the  constitutional 
right  of  Congress  to  regulate  pilotage. 


84  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

Here  is  a  contemporaneous  exposition  of  that  right,  within 
two  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and  an  appeal 
to  it  from  New  York,  in  order  to  remedy  the  evils  of  pilots  un- 
der the  State. 

In  May,  1793,  the  hour  of  meeting  of  the  Chamber  was 
changed  from  6  to  7  P.  M.  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  each  month, 
and  the  fines  for  non-attendance  were  abolished. 

At  a  special  meeting  on  the  24th  July,  1793,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  procure  subscriptions  in  aid  of  the  fugitives 
from  St.  Domingo,  who,  flying  from  that  island  in  consequence 
of  the  disasters  and  horrors  of  the  servile  war,  had  arrived,  and 
were  arriving  in  the  United  States.  At  the  August  meeting 
resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Chamber,  and  ordered  to  be 
published,  in  favor  of  the  duty  of  preserving  neutrality  in  the 
war  then  going  on. 

At  the  May  meeting  in  '94,  the  annual  election  coming  on, 
there  was  a  tie  vote  for  President,  17  each,  for  John  Broome, 
who  had  been  annually  re-elected  from  1785,  and  Gulian  Ver- 
planck.  On  a  second  ballot  Mr.  Verplanck  was  elected.  He 
shortly  afterward  appeared  in  the  Chamber,  and,  thanking  his 
associates  for  the  honor,  declined  the  office.  Mr.  Broome,  in 
like  manner,  acknowledging  the  obligations  conferred  upon  him 
by  previous  repeated  elections,  declined  being  a  candidate 
again,  and  then  Mr.  Comfort  Sands,  first  Vice  President,  was 
elected.  A  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Broome  was 
passed,  "for  his  peculiar  and  unremitted  attention  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Chamber  during  his  long  administration  as  Presi- 
dent." 

It  may  be  surmised  that  the  bitterness  of  party  strife,  which, 
at  the  period  in  question  was  running  very  high,  and  when  the 
French  revolutionary  tunes  of  Ca  ira  and  Carmagnole  were 
the  occasions  of  almost  as  much  passion  and  prejudice  in  our 
streets  and  houses,  and  homes,  as  in  France — led  to  the  contest 
between  Messrs.  Broome  and  Verplanck,  or  rather  between  the 
friends  of  these  gentlemen,  for  each  of  them  evinced  perfect  self- 
respect  and  self-denial  on  the  occasion. 

John  Broome,  the  seventh  President  of  the  Chamber,  and 
who  was  annually  re-elected  from  '85  to  '94 — was  of  English 
parentage  but  American  birth.  His  mother  was  of  the  old  Hu- 
guenot family  of  Latourette. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  86 

He  studied  law  with  Gov.  Livingston  of  New  Jersey,  but  was 
induced  by  an  elder  brother,  Samuel  Broome,  to  renounce  the  Bar 
for  Commerce,  and  accordingly  he  went  into  partnership  with 
that  brother  as  an  English  importer,  before  the  revolution.  Af- 
ter a  time,  however,  he  carried  on  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  acquired  both  wealth  and  reputation  as  a  merchant. 

Before  the  commencement  of  the  war,  Mr.  Broome  married  a 
Lloyd,  of  Lloyd's  Neck.  He  was  a  zealous  whig  during  the 
Revolution,  and  stood  manfully  by  his  country  through  all  the 
trying  scenes  of  that  trying  war.  In  1775,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  in  '76  was  a  member  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  which  was  forced  to  remove  from  the  city  by 
the  inroads  of  the  British  forces. 

He  abandoned,  as  did  so  many  other  whig  merchants,  their 
business  and  residence  in  New  York,  while  it  remained  in  the 
British  occupation,  and  removing  to  Connecticut,  devoted  his 
means  and  energy  to  fitting  out  privateers  against  British  com- 
merce. 

With  the  return  of  peace  he  resumed  his  residence  in  New 
York,  and  it  is  a  proud  tribute  to  his  honored  name  to  state, 
that  he  was  among  those  citizens  who,  after  the  close  of  hostil- 
ities, paid  in  full,  principal  and  interest,  the  debts  he  contract- 
ed in  England  before  the  war,  and  which  too  many  considered 
abrogated  or  outlawed  by  that  war. 

Mr.  Broome  was  for  several  years  an  Alderman  of  the  city; 
in  1784  he  was  appointed  City  Treasurer;  and  in  the  same  year 
he  became  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  was 
also  President  of  the  New  York  Insurance  Company,  the  first 
institution  of  the  kind  incorporated  by  the  State.  Mr.  Broome 
espoused  the  anti-federal  side  in  politics,  and  was  chosen  in 
1800  a  member  of  the  Assembly  from  this  city,  and  with  his 
colleagues.  General  Gates,  Henry  Eutgers  and  George  Clin- 
ton, contributed  to  the  election  to  the  Presidency  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  In  1801  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners 
of  Bankruptcy,  under  the  Act  of  1798 — and  in  1804  he  was 
elected  Lieutenant  Governor — Morgan  Lewis  being  the  Gov- 
ernor. Mr.  Broome  was  re-chosen  successively  for  six  years, 
but  died  before  the  expiration  of  his  term,  in  August,  1810,  in 
the  72d  year  of  his  age. 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

Mr.  Broome's  life,  career  and  character  are  among  those  which 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  may  refer  to  with  pride,  as  of  one  be- 
longing for  many  years  to  their  honored  association. 

Comfort  Sands,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Broome  in  the  Presiden- 
cy, and  held  that  station  for  four  years,  from  '94  to  '98,  was  a 
native  of  Long  Island,  and  born  at  Cow  Neck,  in  February, 
1748.  He  entered  early  into  a  counting  house,  and  as  soon  as 
of  age,  commenced  business  for  himself— just  one  year  after  the 
first  institution  of  the  Chamber.  He  had  already  acquired  con- 
siderable fortune  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution  broke  out.  He 
was  a  sterling  whig,  and  embraced  the  cause  of  his  native  land 
with  zeal  and  courage.  He  renounced  his  residence  in  New 
York,  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  '75  and  '76, 
and  in  the  latter  year  was  one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety. 

While  the  Congress  were  at  White  Plains  in  '76,  Mr.  Sands 
was,  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  appointed  on  the 
24th  July,  Auditor  General  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  he 
continued  in  that  office  until  1781,  when  other  avocations  in- 
duced him  to  resign  it.  Mr.  Sands  then  became  a  contractor 
for  the  supply  of  provisions  for  the  American  army,  and  in  1783, 
at  the  peace,  entered  into  business  with  his  brother  Joshua,  and 
for  several  years  pursued  his  business  as  a  leading  merchant. 
He  was  repeatedly  sent  to  the  Assembly  from  the  city — was  a 
Director  of  the  Bank  of  New  York — and  was  everywhere  re- 
garded as  an  intelligent  and  opulent  merchant. 

Reverses,  such  as  the  most  prudent  cannot  always  escape, 
overtook  him — and  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  passed  in  re- 
tirement. He  breathed  his  last  at  Hoboken,  in  September,  1.834, 
at  the  good  old  age  of  nearly  87  years. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  '94 — with  the  laudable  solicitude  for 
peace,  of  which  enlightened  commercial  men  are  always  the 
advocates — of  peace  with  honor — the  Chamber  unanimously 
adopted  resolutions  on  occasion  of  the  appointment  by  Wash- 
ington of  John  Jay  as  Minister  to  England.  We  quote  only 
one: 

-  ''Resolved,  That  if,  nevertheless,  this  embassy  should  fail  to 
preserve  to  us  the  blessings  of  Peace,  yet  we  persuade  ourselves 
it  connot  fail  to  convince  all  nations  of  our  justice  and  modera- 
tion, to  unite  our  own  sentiments  and  efforts,  and  render  an  ap- 
peal to  arms  more  honorable  to  us  and  more  formidable  to  our 
enemies." 


HISTOEY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  87 

This  is  the  language  of  genuine  patriotism  and  wise  states- 
manship, and  must,  when  published,  as  it  was  ordered  to  be, 
have  produced  a  great  impression. 

The  political  preference  of  the  Chamber,  however,  was  plain- 
ly indicated  by  the  resolution  adopted  on  the  2d  of  January,  '95, 
that  the  Chamber  will  pay  for  the  gunpowder  expended  in  cele- 
brating the  election  of  John  Jay  as  Governor  of  the  State,  to 
which  high  office  he  was  chosen  by  the  people  while  on  his  voy- 
age home  from  his  successful  embassy  to  Great  Britain. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  on  the  21st  of  July,  '95, 
was  convened  to  consider  the  subject  "which  particularly  agi- 
tated the  public  mind,  the  Treaty  of  Amity,  Commerce  and 
Navigation,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain." 
The  Minutes  say,  "this  meeting  was  the  most  respectable  ever 
held  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  (upwards  of  seventy  mem- 
bers being  present.)  After  the  treaty  was  read,  resolutions  ap- 
proving thereof  were  adopted  with  only  ten  dissenting  voices." 
Neither  the  Resolutions,  however,  nor  the  yeas  and  nays  are 
given. 

The  next  entry  is  a  sad  one. 

No  business  was  transacted  except  the  appointment  of  month- 
ly committees,  in  August,  September,  October  and  November, 
owing  to  the  prevalence  of  the  dangerous  fever.  About  700 
persons,  mostly  foreigners,  died  during  that  period. 

At  a  special  meeting  in  April,  '96,  a  bill  for  the  protection  of 
American  Seamen,  then  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
referred  for  the  opinion  of  the  Chamber — drawn  by  Rufus  King, 
one  of  the  Senators  in  Congress  from  New  York — was  unani- 
mously approved,  and  directed  to  be  returned,  with  that  vote, 
to  Mr.  King. 

A  proposal  for  an  accurate  general  survey  of  the  sea-coasts  of 
the  United  States,  was  at  the  same  meeting  transmitted  to  Ed- 
ward Livingston,  a  representative  in  Congress  from  New  York, 
in  order  to  be  laid  before  the  House  of  Representatives. 

In  March,  '98,  the  Chamber  petitioned  Congress  to  fortify 
the  Harbor,  in  view  of  the  critical  state  of  our  foreign  affairs, 
and  they  deputed  Col.  Ebenezer  Stevens,  a  member  of  the 
Chamber,  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
the  necessary  information  to  Congress  respecting  the  fortifica- 
tions of  the  city  and  port.  A  memorial  to  a  like  effect  was  also 
addressed  to  the  Legislature. 


88  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

Col.  Stevens,  at  the  next  meeting,  reported  in  writing  the  re- 
sult of  his  mission,  which  had  so  far  succeeded  as  to  induce  a 
committee  of  Congress  to  recommend  an  appropriation  of 
$117,000  for  fortifying  the  harbor;  but  Col.  Stevens  expressed 
doubts  whether  Congress  would  act  upon  this  recommendation. 

The  difficulties  between  the  United  States  and  the  French 
Republic  were  becoming  daily  more  and  more  menacing,  and 
accordingly  the  Chamber  unanimously  adopted,  in  August,  '98, 
the  report  of  a  committee  approving  the  neutral  policy  adopted 
by  Washington,  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities  in  Europe, 
and  the  repeated  overtures  made  by  the  then  President,  John 
Adams,  for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  our  misunderstanding 
with  France.     That  report  concluded  with  this  resolution. 

"But,  estimating  our  rights  as  an  independent  nation  far 
above  any  considerations  of  inconvenience,  which  may  attend 
the  means  of  maintaining  and  preserving  them, 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will  zealously  support  such  measures  as 
the  wisdom  of  the  Government  may  dictate,  and  demonstrate  by 
our  unanimity,  that  all  efforts  to  divide  us  will  be  vain." 

About  forty  members  were  present  at  this  meeting.  The  re- 
solutions were  forwarded  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
who  returned  an  immediate  answer,  a  copy  of  which  is  spread 
on  the  minutes,  expressing  his  satisfaction  with  this  proceeding 
of  the  Chamber. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  '98,  John  Murray  was  chosen 
President. 

From  the  month  of  August  until  the  month  of  December,  no 
meeting  of  the  Chamber  was  held,  by  reason  of  the  prevalence 
of  the  yellow  fever,  which  made  its  appearance  about  the  28th 
of  August.  The  transactions  of  the  Chamber  for  the  next  year, 
were  few  and  unimportant;  the  meetings  frequently  failing  for 
want  of  a  quorum.  In  1799  the  yellow  fever  again  prevailed, 
and  from  July  to  December  there  was  no  meeting  of  the 
Chamber. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Chamber  was  convened  on  the  26th 
of  December,  '99,  to  consider  of  some  appropriate  mode  of 
testifying  regret  for  the  irreparable  loss  sustained  by  the  na- 
tion in  the  death  of  George  Washington ;  and  Archibald  Gra- 
de, Wm.  Bayard  and  Jonathan  H.  Lawrence,  were  named  as 
a  committee  on  behalf  of  the  Chamber,  to  confer  with  other 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  89 

committees  appointed  by  citizens,  and  with  full  power  to  make 
all  necessary  arrangements. 

The  year  1800  was  a  very  blank  year,  according  to  these 
Records — few  meetings  were  held,  and  little  done  at  them,  and 
during  five  months,  from  June  to  October,  both  inclusive,  no 
meeting  at  all  was  held. 

The  February  meeting,  1801,  records  long  complaints  about 
various  schemes  for  amending  the  Inspection  Laws,  especially 
of  Pot  and  Pearl  Ashes.  There  was  also  renewed  complaint 
about  the  pilots,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire 
what  alterations  were  requisite  in  the  regulations  for  the  pilot 
service. 

The  year  1801  was  hardly  less  barren  than  its  precursor,  no 
quorum  having  been  formed  after  June  until  Feb.,  1802,  when 
a  memorial  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Chamber  against 
'  the  repeal  of  the  Judiciary  Act,  (the  act  known  in  the  partisan 
jargon  of  the  day  as  the  act  creating  Midnight  Judges.)  The 
memorial  was  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  President,  and  a  copy, 
through  Dr.  Mitchell,  representative  in  Congress  from  the  city, 
to  the  House  of  Representatives.  No  meeting  was  again  had 
till  May,  when  the  officers  were  to  be  chosen.  John  Murray 
was  re-elected  for  the  fifth  time  in  succession. 

The  pilots  were  again  complained  of  for  neglect  of  duty, 
and  a  formal  report  against  them  was  made  at  the  June  meet- 
ing, and,  by  order  of  the  Chamber,  handed  to  the  wardens  of 
the  port,  with  a  request  that  they  would  remedy  the  evils. 

No  meeting  again  till  December,  when  a  committee  was 
again  appointed  to  devise  a  more  punctual  attendance  of  the 
members. 

At  the  commencement  of  1803,  Congress  had  under  discus- 
sion a  bill  for  repealing  all  discriminating  duties  on  foreign 
ships,  and  on  merchandise  imported  therein.  The  Chamber 
took  the  alarm,  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  remon- 
strance against  a  measure  so  fraught  with  evil  to  our  rising 
navigation,  and  adopted,  unanimously,  the  memorial,  which 
sets  forth,  in  facts  and  logic  irresistible,  the  impolicy  and  mis- 
chief of  the  proposed  repeal.  During  the  residue  of  this  year 
there  were  few  or  no  meetings.  Indeed  it  seemed  the  estab- 
lished custom,  since  the  fever  of  '98,  to  intermit  all  meetings 
of  the  Chamber  during  the  summer  months. 

12 


90  HISTOKY   OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

On  the  7tli  of  February,  1804,  a  quorum  was  formed,  and 
measures  were  taken  to  act  in  concert  with  the  city  Corporation 
and  Health  Officer,  to  devise  a  Quarantine  system,  to  be  sub- 
mitted for  the  sanction  of  the  Legislature. 

A  whole  year  elapsed  without  another  meeting  of  the  Cham- 
ber. On  the  29th  of  February,  1805,  a  special  meeting  was 
had,  of  which  the  pilots  again  furnished  one  of  the  motives ; 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  devise  measures  for  reme- 
dying the  complaints.  It  was  also  resolved  to  give  a  public 
dinner  to  Capt.  Preble,  just  then  returned  from  his  gallant  ex- 
ploits before  Tripoli,  for  which  he  received  a  gold  medal  and 
the  thanks  of  Congress. 

A  meeting  in  May,  1806,  was  held  for  the  choice  of  officers, 
when,  on  the  declining  of  Mr.  Murray,  Cornelius  Ray  was  cho- 
sen President.  Mr.  John  Murray  was  a  native  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, of  Scotch  descent.  Early  in  life,  (in  the  year  1758,)  he 
became  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  so  continued 
until  his  death.  His  pursuits  were  exclusively  commercial, 
and  successively  he  conducted  the  concerns  of  Mr.  John  Mur- 
ray, Murray,  Sanson  &  Co.,  Murray  &  Sanson,  and  John  Mur- 
ray, through  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years,  and  with  good  suc- 
cess, in  an  extensive  importing  and  commission  business.  He 
was  remarked  for  prudence  and  discretion,  as  far  as  possible 
removed  from  hazardous  speculation,  though  possessed  of  ample 
means.  He  claimed  and  supported  a  character  unimpeached 
and  unimpeachable,  and  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  considera- 
tion of  the  mercantile  community.  He  was  well  experienced 
in  the  customs  of  merchants,  and  though  without  a  professional 
education,  he  was  so  well  versed  in  the  law  of  Marine  Insu- 
rance, as  connected  with  the  customs  of  merchants,  that  his 
opinions  were  highly  appreciated,  as  was  manifested  by  public 
confidence  in  his  decision  as  arbitrator  on  Insurance  cases, 
which  occupied  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time.  He  had  no 
ambition  for  political  advancement,  which  he  might  have  at- 
tained if  he  had  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  friends. 
He  served  as  Governor  and  Treasurer  of  the  New  York  Hos- 
pital, almost  from  the  first  foundation  of  that  Institution.  He 
was  Director  in  the  Branch  of  the  United  States  Bank  in  this 
city.  He  was  a  worthy  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  died  in  1808,  leaving  a  reputation  without  reproach. 


HISTORY   OP  THE   CHAMBER.  91 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  now  became  virtually  extinct,  for 
a  period  of  eleven  years.  A  growing  indifference,  for  several 
years  previous  to  the  year  1806,  had  been  manifested  by  the 
members  of  the  Chamber,  to  the  dignity  and  usefulness  of  the 
association — so  that  its  ceasing  to  live,  as  it  were,  for  a  term 
of  years,  is  less  inexplicable  than  otherwise  it  might  be  deemed. 

On  Tuesday,  4th  of  March,  1817,  under  a  summons  from 
Cornelius  Eay,  the  President  elected  in  1806,  issued  at  the  re- 
quest of  several  members,  the  Chamber  was  again  organised — 
appointed  a  committee  to  revise  its  by-laws,  and  renewed  signs 
of  vitality  were  exhibited  by  the  proposal  of  thirty-six  new 
names,  mostly  of  young  merchants,  come  upon  the  scene  since 
the  last  preceding  meeting,  as  members  of  the  Chamber. 

The  meetings  were  reduced  to  six  per  year,  and  were  attend- 
ed with  some  regularity.  At  the  meeting  in  April,  the  portraits 
of  Lt.  Gov.  Colden  and  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  taken  for  and 
belonging  to  the  Chamber,  were,  at  the  request  of  the  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts,  deposited  with  them,  subject  to  the  order  of  the 
Chamber. 

At  a  special  meeting  in  February,  1819,  a  memorial  was 
adopted,  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  against  the  proposed  re- 
peal of  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  This 
memorial  argues  the  question  wholly  on  large  general  grounds 
— and  it  says  expressly :  *'  Your  memorialists  are  not  induced  to 
this  respectful  expression  of  their  sentiments  by  apprehension 
of  loss  to  the  citizens  of  New  York  from  a  reduced  value  of  the 
stock,  for  very  little  of  it  is  held  by  them ;  nor  by  pride  of  opinion, 
for  they  have  had  no  control  over,  neither  do  they  approve  the 
general  administration  of  the  affairs  of  that  Institution."  The 
committee  who  prepared  and  reported  this  memorial  were  Wm. 
Neilson,  Geo.  Griswold  and  J.  I.  Palmer. 

Cornelius  Ray  having  declined  a  re-election,  William  Bay- 
ard, first  Vice  President,  was  chosen  President.  The  thanks 
of  the  Corporation  were  returned  to  Mr.  Ray  for  his  long  and 
faithful  services. 

Cornelius  Ray  was  of  an  old  New  York  family,  of  which  the 
founder,  John  Ray,  came  to  this  country  before  1700,  from  Exe- 
ter, in  the  county  of  Devonshire,  England.  His  son,  Richard 
Ray,  in  1705,  was  married  to  Elsey  Saunders,  and  their  son 
Richard,  the  father  of  Cornelius,  was  born  in  New  York  on  the 


92  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

12th  of  June,  1717,  and  on  the  24th  of  April,  1748,  he  married 
Sarah,  the  daughter  of  Cornelius  Bogcrt. 

From  this  marriage  sprang  Cornelius  Ray,  who  was  born  in 
New  York  on  the  25th  of  April,  1755.  He  married  in  Albany, 
In  July,  1784,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  Edward  ElmendorflP, 
of  Kingston,  Ulster  county. 

Previously  thereto,  however,  Mr.  Ray  had  made  a  visit  to 
Europe. 

Mr.  Ray  was  an  active  merchant  of  New  York,  but  during 
the  Revolutionary  war  he  retired  to  Albany.  When  peace  had 
restored  the  city  of  New  York  to  its  own  people,  Mr.  Ray  re- 
turned to  his  accustomed  place  and  pursuits.  After  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  United  States  Bank,  Mr.  Ray  was  chosen  Pre- 
sident of  the  branch  in  this  city,  and  so  continued  until  the  ex- 
piration of  its  charter,  in  1810.  He  was  also,  as  has  been  seen, 
the  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  from  1806  to  1819, 
when  he  declined  farther  service.  Mr.  Ray  was  long  connect- 
ed with  several  of  the  charitable  institutions  of  his  native  city. 
In  his  personal  character  and  intercourse  he  was  kind  and  gen- 
tle, of  high  and  well  settled  principles.  He  was  the  companion 
and  friend  of  many  of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  day.  In 
politics  he  was  a  constant  and  sturdy  supporter  of  the  federal 
party.  He  was  an  honest  man,  a  kind  father,  warm  friend,  and 
a  sincere  Christian,  and  he  left  behind  him  at  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1820,  an  unblemished  name,  which  his  children  hon- 
orably prize. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  in  September,  delegates  were  ap- 
pointed, on  the  suggestion  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Phil- 
adelphia, to  meet  in  that  city  with  delegates  from  all  the  com- 
mercial cities,  to  take  measures  to  defeat  the  proposed  Tariff 
Bill. 

Such  a  convention  did  accordingly  assemble  in  Philadelphia, 
on  the  1st  of  November,  and  a  report  of  the  doings  thereof  was 
made  by  U\g  New  York  delegates  to  tha  Chamber,  at  a  special 
meeting  in  January,  1821.  This  report,  which  is  spread  at 
large  on  the  minutes,  embodies  the  names  of  all  the  members  of 
that  convention,  and  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  the  reso- 
lutions which  were  adopted  by  it.  These  resolutions,  fourteen 
in  number,  are  as  thoroughly  anti-tariff  as  even  South  Carolina 
could  desire;  yet  no  State  south  of  Maryland  was  represented 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  93 

— the  convention  consisting  wholly  of  delegates  from  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland.  Wm.  Bayard,  President  of  the  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  one  of  its  delegates,  was  cho- 
sen President  of  the  convention.  Revenue,  it  was  insisted  by 
these  resolutions,  is  the  legitimate  purpose  of  legislation  on  the 
subject  of  duties;  and  the  abolition  of  drawbacks  and  the  im- 
position of  cash  duties  were  alike  resisted  as  injurious  to  com- 
merce, manufactures  and  agriculture. 

The  first  step  toward  building  a  Merchants'  Exchange  was 
taken  at  the  May  meeting  of  this  year,  when  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  expediency  of  such  an  enterprise. 
At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  committee  reported  that  they  had 
petitioned  the  Legislature  for  an  act  of  incorporation,  with  a 
capital  of  half  a  inUlimi  dollars,  to  build  an  Exchange. 

This  act  was  granted,  and  under  it  subscriptions  were  ob- 
tained for  building  the  Exchange,  which  was  destroyed  in  the 
great  fire  of  1835. 

The  Chamber,  in  December,  at  a  special  meeting  convened 
for  the  purpose  of  considering  a  circular  letter  from  the  mer- 
chants and  citizens  of  Boston,  asking  the  simultaneous  co- 
operation of  the  commercial  towns  and  cities,  in  an  application 
to  Congress  to  pass  a  Banhwpt  law,  resolved  so  to  co-operate, 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  fitting  memorial,  which 
was  reported  to  a  subsequent  meeting  and  adopted. 

In  January,  1822,  the  Chamber  discussed  and  adopted  re- 
solutions, which  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Congress,  against 
the  repeal  of  the  laws  prohibiting  trade  in  British  vessels  from 
the  colonies,  while  the  colonial  system  of  Great  Britain  was 
maintained  against  our  navigation.  This  was  a  noted  subject 
of  dispute  in  its  day,  and  the  ground  here  taken  by  the  Cham- 
ber was  clearly  that  called  for  by  a  just  sense  of  American 
rights — althougii  that  ground  was,  at  a  subsequent  day,  aban- 
doned by  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  summer  of  this  year  (1822)  the  yellow  fever  again 
visited  New  York,  and  no  meetings  of  the  Chamber  were  held 
from  the  2d  of  July  to  the  3d  of  December. 

Early  in  the  ensuing  year  the  subject  of  the  quarantine  laws, 
the  revision  of  the  tariff  of  1818,  and  the  Mercantile  Library 
Association,  the  inspection  of  flour,  and  other  inspection  laws, 
were  under  the  consideration  of  the  Chamber. 


94  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

At  the  February  meeting  an  elaborate  report  was  accepted, 
setting  forth  the  merits ^f  the  Mercantile  Library  Association, 
commending  it  to  the  special  regard  and  protection  of  the 
Chamber,  and  recommending  an  appropriation  of  $250  to  its 
library.  This  was  granted,  and  a  standing  committee  of  five 
members  of  the  Chamber  was  to  be  annually  appointed,  to  visit 
the  library  from  time  to  time,  and  to  report  its  condition  and 
that  of  the  Association  to  the  Chamber. 

Alarm  was  created  in  this  city  at  this  juncture,  by  a  proposi- 
tion before  the  Legislature  for  confining  the  sittings  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  altogether  to  Albany,  and  consequently  depriving 
this  city  of  the  term  usually  held  here,  at  which,  cases  involv- 
ing nice  points  of  mercantile  law,  were  pleaded  by  men,  whose 
residence  and  business  here  necessarily  made  them  conversant 
with  the  laws  and  the  usages  of  merchants.  A  strong  memo- 
rial against  this  innovation  was  adopted,  and  the  measure  fell 
through. 

An  able  memorial  was  also  adopted  17th  February,  1823, 
against  a  proposal  of  the  Common  Council,  to  assess  taxes  on 
all  property  either  owned  in  the  city  or  brought  into  it  for  sale 
— a  project  which,  in  the  language  of  the  memorial,  "contem- 
plated nothing  less  than  that  evei7  firkin  of  butter,  every  basket 
of  eggs,  all  meats,  poultries,  fish,  vegetables,  all  articles  of 
fuel,  of  clothing,  of  amusement,  of  luxury,  of  necessity,  the 
fruits  of  the  soil  and  produce  of  the  seas,  brought  from  our 
confederate  States,  equally  with  the  manufactures  and  produc- 
tions of  foreign  countries,  shall  each  and  all  pay  toll  to  the 
corporation  of  New  York,  for  the  privilege  of  being  introduced 
into  the  city  for  the  consumption,  use  and  benefit  of  its  in- 
habitants." 

A  very  strong  memorial  to  the  Legislature  was  adopted  at 
the  Februaiy  meeting,  1823,  against  the  law  for  inspecting  to- 
haoco,  as  wholly  injurious  and  of  questionable  constitutionality. 

In  the  minutes  of  December,  1823,  is  a  long  report  as  to  the 
law  of  factors  and  consignees,  and  their  right  to  pledge  goods, 
&c.,  together  with  the  opinion  of  Chancellor  Kent  on  the  points 
applicable  to  this  subject,  which  were  submitted  to  him. 

Again  did  the  Chamber  petition  Congress  for  a  bankrupt  law, 
which  the  commercial  disasters  of  1823  rendered  so  necessary* 
but  still  petitioned  in  vain. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  95 

The  quarantine  law  and  the  pilots  were  still  sources  of  dis- 
content, trouble  and  remonstrance. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year,  1826,  the  Chamber  hardly 
met  at  all,  but  at  the  meeting  in  November,  Robert  Lenox,  first 
Vice  President,  informed  the  Chamber  that  their  President, 
William  Bayard,  who  had  been  annually  re-elected  from  1820, 
had  died  on  the  8th  September  preceding.  A  committee  was 
immediately  named  to  report  suitable  resolutions  expressive  of 
the  respect  and  affection  of  the  members  for  the  deceased,  and 
being  reported,  these  resolutions  were  unanimously  passed ;  and 
at  the  next  meeting — held  for  the  purpose  of  filling  the  vacancy 
— Robert  Lenox,  first  Vice  President,  was  chosen  unanimously. 
William  Bayard  descended  from  a  Huguenot  family  of  hon- 
orable antecedents  and  honorable  conduct,  was  the  son  of  Col. 
Bayard,  who,  trusted  by  the  Crown  at  the  commencement  of 
our  revolutionary  struggle,  returned  that  trust  with  unhesitat- 
ing loyalty — and  taking  boldly  the  part  of  the  Crown,  subject- 
ed his  large  estates  to  confiscation.  But  he  was  not  thereby 
exasperated  against  his  countrymen — on  the  contrary,  while 
this  city  was  in  possession  of  the  British,  he  was  active  and 
liberal  in  relieving  American  prisoners,  and  obtained  the  re- 
lease of  many  from  that  scene  of  torture  and  death,  the  Jersey, 
prison  ship. 

Colonel  Bayard  accompanied  the  retiring  army  to  England, 
leaving  behind  his  son  William,  the  subject  of  this  notice — who 
soon,  by  his  activity,  his  industry  and  his  good  conduct,  made 
for  himself  a  name  and  a  career,  as  an  honorable  and  successful 
merchant.  Forming  a  partnership,  first  with  Herman  Le  Roy, 
and  then  with  James  McEvers,  the  house  of  Lc  Roy,  Bayard 
4*  McEvers  became,  and  for  long  years  remained,  one  of  the 
most  honored  and  prosperous  of  American  commercial  estab- 
lishments— they  enjoyed,  especially,  the  confidence  of  the  wary 
and  cautious,  but  opulent  Dutch  houses,  which,  in  the  hour  of 
this  nation's  greatest  need,  after  the  revolutionaiy  struggle,  and 
before  yet  a  settled  federal  government  had  consolidated  the 
great  resources  of  the  country  and  obtained  the  control  of  them 
— had  made  large  loans  to  the  young  Republic.  The  credit  of 
the  house  of  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  McEvers,  was  world-wide — 
and  it  is  believed  that  their  bills  of  exchange  drawn  on  Eng- 
land, were  first  used  from  this  city,  as  a  remittance  to  the  East 
Indies  instead  of  coin,  for  the  purchase  of  India  goods. 


96  HISTOKY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

Their  opulence  and  credit  were  at  the  highest  when  the  pro- 
ject of  the  Erie  Canal  first  took  something  like  definite  shape, 
and  it  is  to  be  recorded  to  the  credit  of  Mr.  Bayard's  sagacity, 
that  he  saw  with  the  eyes  and  large  soul  of  his  early  friend  De 
Witt  Clinton,  the  inestimable  benefits  of  the  enterprise,  and 
pledged  himself  to  Mr.  Clinton,  to  procure  from  his  Dutch 
friends  the  capital  necessary  for  the  undertaking,  upon  the 
stock  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

A  record  lies  before  us,  written  by  one  who  then  was  in  the 
employment  of  the  firm,  and  now  a  respected  merchant  in  this 
city,  which  relates  the  particulars  of  an  interview  between  Mr. 
Bayard  and  Mr.  Clinton  on  this  subject,  at  tlic  counting-house  of 
the  former,  and  testifies  both  to  the  earnestness  of  Mr.  Bayard's 
zeal  in  behalf  of  the  great  projects  and  to  tlie  delicacy  of  its 
real,  unfaltering,  undiscouraged  author  and  accomplisher,  De 
Witt  Clinton.  He  objected  to  any  arrangement  which,  because 
of  the  known  intimacy  and  friendship  between  himself  and  Mr. 
Bayard,  might  lead  to  the  possible  imputation  that  they  were 
co-operating  in  such  a  work  for  purposes  of  personal  specula- 
tion. The  overture  was  therefore  declined — but  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  the  confidence  expressed  by  a  man  so  conversant 
with  the  state  of  credit  and  the  money  market  as  Mr.  Bayard, 
that  capital  adequate  to  the  occasion  could  be  had  on  the  bonds 
of  the  State,  had  a  most  encouraging  influence  upon  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Clinton,  and  led  him  to  persevere  unto  final  and  most  tri- 
umphant success. 

In  this  success  no  one  more  heartily  rejoiced — than  Mr. 
Bayard. 

In  all  public  works  and  institutions  of  benevolence,  Mr.  Bay- 
ard was  ever  ready.  His  private  bounties  were  numerous, 
magnificent,  and  silent.  His  personal  demeanor  was  most 
courteous — his  manners  winning,  his  temper  gentle  and  sweet. 
He  had  no  enemies,  and  hosts  of  friends — and  when  finally 
summoned  from  among  the  living,  he  was  mourned  as  tliose 
only  are  mourned  who  have  learned  and  practised  the  great 
but  rare  lesson  in  life,  of  so  using  prosperous  fortunes  as  to 
disarm  malice  and  silence  envy. 

At  the  March  meeting  in  1827,  a  remonstrance  was  adopted 
against  a  bill  before  the  Legislature,  proposing  to  change  the 
rate  of  damages  on  protested  bills  on  Europe,  from  20  per  cent., 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  97 

the  established  rate,  to  7  per  cent.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  may 
be  stated  that  the  bill  finally  passed,  fixing  the  damages  at  10 
per  cent. 

On  the  1st  May,  1827,  the  new  Exchange,  in  Wall  street, 
being  opened  for  business,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  that 
day,  took  possession  of  the  apartment  assigned  for  their  use  by 
the  trustees  of  the  building. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  1827,  the  Chamber,  on  the  suggestion  of, 
and  co-operating  with,  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
adopted  a  memorial  to  the  President,  John  Q.  Adams,  in  favor 
of  a  line  of  communication  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien. 

Thus,  twenty-one  years  ago,  was  suggested  the  route  which, 
within  the  last  few  weeks, — days,  it  may  almost  be  said — has 
been  carried  into  actual  operation,  for  communicating  with  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  At  that  time  no  vision  of  American  States  on 
that  great  sea — of  a  continuous  people  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  stretching  across  the  whole  continent,  of  the  same 
language,  lineage  and  laws — had  dawned  on  the  popular  mind. 
The  communication  then  sought  was  simply  for  commercial 
convenience ;  but  now  it  is  of  high  social  and  political  necessi- 
ty that  we  should  have  the  most  rapid  means  of  communicating 
with  our  own  countrymen  in  California  and  in  Oregon ;  and  hence 
the  line  of  steamers  from  New  York  to  Chagres — of  which  the 
first  will  take  her  departure  next  week — and  of  a  connecting 
line  on  the  Pacific,  of  which  the  first,  the  California,  went  hence 
about  a  month  ago. 

The  plan  suggested  to  the  government  by  the  Chamber,  in 
1827,  was  for  a  line  of  small  national  vessels  to  sail  once  a 
month  to  Chagres,  with  a  number  of  like  vessels  in  the  Pacific 
to  meet  their  mails  at  Panama,  and  convey  them  to  Valparaiso, 
touching  at  intermediate  ports. 

In  September,  1827,  was  adopted  a  memorial  to  the  Common 
Council,  urging  their  co-operation  with  a  plan  proposed  by  the 
gentlemen  of  the  bar,  for  constituting  a  new  court  in  the  city* 
to  be  known  as  the  Superior  Court,  in  order  to  remedy  the  great 
delay  in  the  law,  now  so  pernicious,  arising  from  the  excess  of 
cases,  and  the  insufficient  provision  of  courts  to  determine  them, 

13 


98  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

In  January,  1828,  another  very  earnest  and  forcible  remon- 
strance to  Congress,  against  the  farther  increase  proposed,  of 
duties  on  woolens,  was  adopted,  and  in  the  next  month  com- 
mendation is  officially  bestowed  on  a  report  by  a  committee  of 
the  citizens  of  Boston,  as  to  the  farther  increase  of  the  tariff, 
and  thanks  were  voted  to  such  newspapers  as  had  reproduced 
extracts  from  that  report. 

A  special  meeting  was  convened  by  the  President  on  the  18th 
of  February,  in  order  to  consider  of  the  proper  means  of  testi- 
fying respect  for  the  memory  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  died  at 
Albany  on  the  11th  of  February,  in  the  59th  year  of  his  age. 
Appropriate  resolutions  were  reported  by  W.  W.  Woolsey,  and 
unanimously  adopted.  The  chief  one  is  here  quoted,  as  com- 
prehending in  a  brief  summary  the  outline  of  an  illustrious  life : 

"  His  devotion  to  the  cause  of  science  and  literature,  and  to 
the  benevolent  institutions  which  distinguish  the  present  day — 
his  successful  efforts  to  promote  schools  among  the  great  body 
of  our  citizens,  whereby  nearly  half  a  million  of  our  youth  re- 
ceive the  benefit  of  education — his  genius  in  projecting,  and  his 
untiring  zeal  and  energy  in  carrying  into  efiFect,  the  great  scheme 
of  internal  navigation,  which  has  already  united  the  Hudson 
with  the  inland  seas  of  the  North,  and  will  soon  lead  to  a  simi- 
lar union  with  the  immense  waters  of  the  West,  and  lay  open 
to  the  commerce  of  this  city  fertile  countries,  whose  shores  are 
not  inferior  in  extent  to  the  shores  of  Europe — all  show  the  su- 
periority of  his  mind — that  it  was  directed  to  the  most  patriotic 
objects,  and  that  its  efforts  have  been  crowned  with  the  most 
splendid  success." 

The  public  man  of  whom  these  things  could  be  justly  said, 
as  in  the  case  of  De  Witt  Clinton  they  most  unquestionably 
were,  needs,  can  indeed  have,  no  higher  eulogy — no  more  glo- 
rious epitaph ;  but  where  is  the  monument  which  such  a  bene- 
factor should  receive  from  the  hands  of  a  grateful  people,  and 
more  especially  from  the  hands  of  a  city,  of  which  the  enter- 
prise he  carried  through  to  such  unparalleled  success  has  more 
than  doubled,  and  is  yet  constantly  adding  to,  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  ? — Where  is  the  monument  of  grateful  New  York  to 
its  benefactor,  De  Witt  Clinton  1  May  the  day  not  be  distant 
when  he  who  shall  repeat  this  question  will  be  referred  to  some 
lofty  and  fitting  memorial  which  shall  attest,  to  all  eyes  and  all 


HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  99 

ages,  that  he  whose  canal  has  poured  wealth  prodigally  into 
our  streets — whose  provident  mind,  in  contributing  firmly  to 
establish  and  widely  to  spread  popular  instruction — has  poured 
streams,  yet  more  priceless,  of  knowledge  and  morality  into  the 
hearts  of  millions,  who  yet  know  not  his  name  from  any  public 
record — that  he,  the  benefactor  of  his  own  age  and  generation, 
and  of  generations  yet  unborn — did  not  serve  an  ungrateful 
people. 

At  the  same  meeting,  W.  Trimble,  from  the  committee  ap- 
pointed to  procure  amendments  to  the  acts  for  appointing  and 
regulating  pilots,  reported  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  accom- 
plish anything,  and  that  their  attempts  had  altogether  failed. 

In  April,  a  committee  from  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of 
Commerce  asked  from  the  New  York  Chamber  their  co-opera- 
tion in  inducing  Congress  to  construct  a  breakwater  in  the  Del- 
aware, which  request,  after  being  referred  to  a  committee  and 
favorably  reported  upon,  was  complied  with. 

Another  proposition  from  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  met  with 
less  success;  that  for  the  substitution  of  a  system  of  compul- 
sory warehousing  and  cash  duties,  for  the  present  system  of  du- 
ties on  credit.  A  long  and  able  report  adverse  to  this  prpposi- 
tion,  was  made  to  the  Chamber  of  New  York  and  accepted  by  it, 
and  a  counter  memorial  to  that  from  Philadelphia  was  directed 
to  be  prepared  and  sent  to  Congress. 

In  February,  1829,  a  memorial  was  presented  by  the  Cham- 
ber to  Congress,  dwelling  upon  "  the  calamitous  results  of  the 
tarijff  of  1828,"  and  asking  for  a  reduction  of  duties. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  a  special  meeting  was  called  to  consider 
of  the  proper  mode  of  testifying  respect  for  the  memory  of  Ar- 
chibald Gracie,  then  lately  deceased.  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  report  at  the  next  stated  meeting,  in  May,  when  ac- 
cordingly it  was  ordered  that  the  date  of  his  decease  be  entered 
on  the  minutes  as  a  renewed  expression  of  the  high  sense  en- 
tertained of  the  services  of  the  deceased  while  an  officer  of  this 
Board,  and  of  the  grateful  remembrance  which  it  cherishes  of 
the  courtesy  of  his  manners,  his  intelligence  and  benevolence, 
and  of  his  uniform  and  tried  integrity. 

This  was  a  high,  well  merited,  most  unusual,  and  therefore 
more  precious  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  good  man,  who  no 
longer,  at  the  period  of  his  death,  and  for  several  years  before, 
had  considered  himself  as  belonging  to  the  society. 


100  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

It  was  well  merited.  Adversity  such  as  falls  at  times  upon 
the  most  cautious  merchant,  had  fallen  upon  Archibald  Gracie, 
and  he  who  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  had  pursued  with 
signal  industry,  intelligence,  liberality  and  success,  the  high 
and  honorable  calling  of  a  merchant,  saw  himself  stricken  down 
in  his  advanced  years,  by  a  succession  of  disasters  which  no 
prudence  could  avert,  or  sagacity  foresee. 

Mr.  Gracie  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  left  his  birthplace, 
Dumfries,  about  the  same  time  with  Wm.  Ewart  and  John  Reid, 
youths  of  his  own  age,  and  alike  bent  on  seeking  their  fortunes 
in  the  commercial  world.  Mr.  Ewart  directed  his  steps  to  Liv- 
erpool, and  became  there  the  head  of  the  house,  well  known  to 
American  merchants,  of  Ewart,  Eutson  &  Co.  Mr.  Reid  found 
his  theatre  in  London,  and  there  became  the  head  of  another 
well  known  house,  Reid,  Irving  &  Co.  Mr.  Gracie  crossed  the 
sea,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  established  himself  in  Peters- 
burg, Virginia,  and  soon  made  for  himself  a  position  and  a  name 
there.  Called  by  his  business  occasionally  to  New  York,  he  here 
met  with  the  wife  who  constituted  the  happiness  of  his  after  life, 
Miss  Rogers;  and  this  circumstance,  combining  with  the  better 
field  which  New  York  presented  to  a  man  of  Mr.  Grade's  reach 
of  mind  for  the  prosecution  of  business,  determined  him  to  re- 
move to  this  city  about  1791;  and  here  he  labored  honorably, 
diligently,  and  for  long  years,  most  successfully.  His  habits 
as  a  man  of  business  were  those  of  great  self-reliance,  great 
promptness  and  great  decision.  Wealth  flowed  in  upon  him, 
but  he  valued  it  only  as  it  enabled  him  to  indulge  the  gener- 
ous feelings  of  a  nature  that  never  harbored  a  selfish  thought — 
the  noble  impulses  of  a  heart  which  found  its  delight  in  confer- 
ring benefits,  relieving  distress,  promoting  every  good  aim  and 
aspiration.  His  family,  his  domestic  hearth,  was  the  home  of 
happiness — of  hospitality — of  all  the  Christian  graces  and  vir- 
tues. Of  a  cheerful  temper  and  most  winning  and  gentle  man- 
ners himself,  the  sunshine  of  his  ample  brow  and  bright,  quick, 
but  smiling  eyes,  diffused  itself  over  all  around — his  footstep 
as  it  entered  the  sanctuary  of  home  from  the  labor  of  the  count- 
ing-house, fell  upon  every  ear  as  the  most  welcome  sound,  for 
he  was  beloved  as  such  a  man  only  can  be  beloved. 

In  his  public  walk  as  in  his  private  life  he  was  without  blem- 
ish or  reproach.  His  views  of  human  nature  were  hopeful.  Dis- 
trust was  foreign  to  him  wholly— honest,  confiding,  unsuspect- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  101 

ing  himself — he  would  not  soil  his  mind,  nor  sour  his  own  hope- 
ful temper,  by  suspecting  the  motives  or  the  integrity  of  others. 
He  carried  his  heart  in  his  hand,  and  a  nobler  one  does  not 
beat  on  earth. 

When  the  storm  came,  which  after  long  and  vigorous  strug- 
gling overthrew  him,  he  lamented  less  his  own  privations,  his 
own  altered  condition,  than  that  of  those  most  dear  to  him; 
the  loss  of  fortune,  as  carrying  with  it  the  loss  of  the  means  of 
self-indulgence,  or  of  ostentation,  or  display,  touched  him  not 
at  all ;  but  it  did  touch  him  nearly  that  the  hand  which  had 
never  turned  away  the  suffering  or  the  destitute,  was  now  pow- 
erless for  acts  of  benevolence. 

He  died  in  this  city  in  his  74th  year,  mourned  and  honored 
most  by  those  who  most  nearly  lived  with  and  knew  him. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  1830,  and  the  beginning  of 
1831,  little  business  of  moment  was  transacted. 

The  President,  Robert  Lenox,  summoned  an  extra  meeting 
of  the  Chamber  on  the  6th  of  July,  to  consider  of  the  proper 
mode  of  testifying  respect  for  the  late  James  Monroe,  ex-Pre- 
sident of  the  United  States,  who  died  in  the  city  on  the  pre- 
ceding 4th  inst. 

The  Chamber  adopted  resolutions  of  regret  and  respect,  and 
determined  to  attend  in  a  body  the  funeral  ceremonies. 

The  Hellgate  and  East  River  pilots  now  came  in  for  their 
share  of  animadversion,  and  at  the  February  meeting  in  1832, 
a  petition  was  voted  to  the  Legislature  of  this  State,  praying 
that  coasting  vessels  trading  from  Troy,  Albany  and  New  York 
to  eastern  ports,  through  the  Sound,  may  be  exempted  from  pi- 
lotage fees,  which  they  are  now  by  law  obliged  to  pay,  when 
they  neither  need  nor  employ  pilots,  the  masters  thereof  being, 
themselves,  at  least  as  skillful  as  the  branch  pilots. 

In  April,  1832,  another  memorial  was  voted  to  Congress  for 
a  new  custom-house. 

No  quorum  seems  to  have  been  formed  from  November,  1833, 
to  May,  1834.  At  this  meeting  a  series  of  resolutions  were 
adopted,  against  a  project  then  mooted,  of  causing  the  city  hall 
to  be  sold  to  the  General  Government  for  a  custom-house  and 
post-office,  and  upon  these  resolutions  was  founded  a  strong 
memorial  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  dissuading  bim  from 
any  such  arrangement,  as  extremely  inconvenient  to  the  com- 


102  HISTOKY   OF   THE   CHAMBER. 

merce  of  the  city.  A  committee  of  the  Chamber  was  directed 
to  proced  to  Washington  with  this  memorial  and  the  resolutions 
upon  which  it  was  founded,  in  order  to  confer  with  the  President 
and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  represent  to  them  the  evils 
of  such  a  scheme.  In  consequence  of  this  earnest  interposition  of 
the  Chamber,  the  President,  as  was  announced  to  the  commit- 
tee by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasmy,  Mr.  McLane,  determined 
to  carry  out  the  original  plan  of  building  the  custom-house  in 
Wall  street,  where  it  now  stands,  an  ornament  to  the  city,  and 
convenient  for  the  merchants. 

On  the  3d  of  December  '33,  a  report  in  favor  of  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  Commercial  Library  was  adopted,  and  resolu- 
tions were  passed,  appropriating  $500  as  a  commencement,  and 
appointing  a  committee  of  five  to  carry  into  effect  these  resolu- 
tions. The  library  was  to  be  placed  in  the  room,  in  the  Ex- 
change, where  the  Chamber  met.  It  does  not  appear  that  any 
effect  was  given  to  these  resolutions,  nor  that  any  steps  towards 
carrying  them  into  execution  were  ever  taken. 

A  project  for  a  ship  canal  round  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  of 
a  railroad  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson,  was  laid  before  the 
Chamber  in  September,  1833,  and  called  forth  a  very  favorable 
expression  of  opinion,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  pub- 
lish the  plan  of  the  proposed  canal,  and  a  pamphlet  explanatory 
thereof,  for  general  distribution — ^the  cost,  not  exceeding  two 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  by  the  Chamber. 

During  the  year  1835,  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber  are  unusu- 
ally barren.  The  following  entry,  under  date  of  5th  of  Jan- 
uary, '36,  opens  the  third  volume  of  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber. 

"  There  was  no  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  this 
day,  in  consequence  of  the  total  destruction  of  the  Merchants' 
Exchange,  and  the  confusion  created  in  all  business  arrange- 
ments by  the  dreadful  and  most  disastrous  fire  on  the  night  of 
the  16th  of  December,  which  has  laid  waste  the  greater  part  of 
the  business  section  of  the  First  Ward.  The  books  and  pic- 
tures, and  the  corporate  seal  of  the  Chamber,  fortunately  were 
saved  from  the  flames." 

It  cannot  be  misplaced,  in  reference  to  the  grievous  calamity 
recorded  in  the  entry  just  read,  to  say  that  the  undepressed 
spirit  and  unfaltering  energy  displayed  by  the  body  of  mer- 
chants and  traders  of  the  city,  under  such  losses  and  disap- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  103 

pointments  as  that  fire  occasioned,  will  long  be  remembered 
with  admiration,  and  must  be  regarded  as  having  essentially 
contributed  to  the  prompt  renovation,  in  even  more  than  its 
original  value  and  substance,  of  the  large  district  over  which 
the  flames  swept. 

In  several  cases  foundations  were  commenced  of  new  and 
more  costly  edifices,  amid  the  glow  of  the  expiring  embers  of 
the  buildings  destroyed,  and  it  is  pleasant  and  grateful  to  be- 
lieve that  such  energy  was  not  without  its  reward,  and  that 
they  who  would  not  be  ruined  by  adding  despondency  to  disas- 
ter, have  reaped  the  fruits  of  their  wisely  directed  and  rare  en- 
ergy, in  ultimate  and  not  long-waited-for  success. 

At  the  February  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  a  memorial  to  Con- 
gress was  adopted,  praying  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  then  pend- 
ing, for  extending  the  term  of  bonds  for  duties  in  New  York. 
The  propriety  of  sending  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  the 
State,  for  the  repeal  of  all  laws  prohibiting  the  establishment 
of  foreign  insurance  companies  among  us,  was  discussed,  and 
the  Chamber  declined  to  interfere. 

The  pilots  again  came  up,  and  a  memorial  to  the  Legisla- 
ture for  an  increase  of  the  number  was  adopted. 

A  bill  being  before  Congress  for  compelling  merchant  ships 
to  carry  apprentices,  with  a  view  to  secure  an  adequate  supply 
of  experienced  seamen,  Mr.  Goldsborough,  a  senator  from  Ma- 
ryland, and  chairman  of  the  Senate's  committee,  to  whom  the 
bill  was  refen-ed,  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  the  Chamber,  with  the  ex- 
pression of  a  wish  for  its  opinion  in  relation  thereto. 

The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  and  on  the  18th  of 
May  a  report  was  made  by  that  committee,  approving  the  gen- 
eral principle  of  the  bill,  but  dissenting  from  some  of  its  details. 

In  February,  '37,  the  Chamber  memorialized  Congress  for  a 
law  to  authorize  the  employment  of  some  of  the  vessels  of  the 
navy  to  cruise  off  the  coast  during  the  winter  season,  as  relief 
vessels.  The  Chamber  also  passed  strong  resolutions  in  favor 
of  the  completion  of  the  Erie  railroad,  and  calling  upon  citi- 
zens of  all  classes  to  subscribe  to  its  stock. 

The  pilots  again  troubled  the  Chamber,  and  a  committee  was 
sent  to  Albany  to  see  what  could  be  done  in  the  premises. 
Happily,  Congress  had  now  passed  a  bill  throwing  the  busi- 
ness of  piloting  open  to  competition,  and  New  Jersey  had  es- 


104  HISTOKY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

tablished  a  system  for  the  appointment  and  regulation  of  pilots, 
for  contributing  to  the  success  of  which,  by  attending  at  Tren- 
ton, Capt.  Hackstaff  received  the  special  thanks  of  the  Chamber. 

A  strong  remonstrance  against  the  usury  laws,  was  sent  by 
a  committee  to  the  State  Legislature,  a  printed  copy  of  which 
is  annexed  to  the  minutes  of  2d  of  May. 

During  the  summer  of  '37,  no  meeting  of  the  Chamber  was 
held.  It  was  at  this  period  that  our  city  was  thrown  into  a 
sudden  consternation  by  a  well  accredited  rumor  that  a  pirate 
vessel  had  been  met  in  the  track  of  our  European  packet  ships, 
and  had  actually  captured  a  Philadelphia  ship — a  rumor  which 
called  forth  a  spontaneous,  prompt  and  gratifying  expedition, 
organized  with  the  utmost  despatch,  by  the  navy  officers  on 
this  station,  in  oirder  to  seek  out  and  capture  the  dangerous  foe. 
Happily,  the  rumor  proved  unfounded;  but  its  existence  had 
the  good  effect  of  displaying  the  zeal  of  the  navy,  and  of  turn- 
ing attention  to  the  necessity,  with  so  rich  a  commerce  and  so 
defenceless  a  coast  as  ours,  of  always  having  at  hand,  and  in 
readiness,  a  certain  amount  of  naval  force. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Chamber  after  this  occurrence, 
(7th  of  November,)  its  thanks  were  especially  tendered  to  Com. 
Ridgely,  Capts.  Perry  and  Stringham,  and  Lieut.  Sands,  for  the 
zeal  and  alacrity  evinced  by  them  in  getting  to  sea  with  such 
force  as  they  could  collect  on  the  spur  of  the  occasion — and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  address  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  a  representation  of  the  expediency  of  a  perma- 
nent home  squadron — as  well  for  the  relief  of  vessels  on  our 
coast  in  distress,  as  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce — and 
this  was  the  origin  of  the  policy  ever  since  pursued — though 
not  always  with  adequate  or  appropriate  force, — of  keeping 
afloat,  off  the  coast  or  in  the  harbor,  ready  for  sea,  some  well 
equipped  vessels  of  war. 

The  commercial  and  financial  disasters  which  this  year  over- 
spread the  country,  and  resulted  in  a  general  suspension  of  spe- 
cie payments,  led  to  a  correspondence  between  the  Chamber 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  urging  on  the  part  of  the  mer- 
chants a  prolongation  of  the  credit  on  all  bonds  falling  due  be- 
fore the  first  of  January  next — of  two  years — the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  signified  his  purpose  of  submitting  the  suggestion 
to  Congress. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  105 

The  Chamber  reiterated  to  the  Legislature  its  interest  in  the 
completion  of  the  Erie  railroad,  and  its  hope  that  all  reasonable 
aid  might  be  extended  to  it  by  the  Legislature.  And  upon  Con- 
gress it  again  expressed  the  expediency  of  a  well-regulated  ap- 
prentice system  for  the  commercial  marine. 

A  warehousing  system  was  again  agitated  in  Congress,  and 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  February,  1838,  adopted  a  strong 
memorial  in  favor  of  such  a  system,  with  the  proviso,  however, 
that  the  existing  system  of  credits  upon  duties  be  not  altered. 
Ten  years  before  the  Chamber  had  not  only  refused  to  co-ope- 
rate with  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  support  of 
a  warehousing  system,  but  had  memorialized  Congress  in  op- 
position to  it.  Then,  however,  \\\q^  scheme  was  accompanied 
with  what  seems  its  natural  counterpart,  cash  duties.  Now  the 
Chamber  adhering  to  its  opposition  to  cash  duties,  yet  favored 
a  general  warehousing  system. 

Both  Mr.  Senator  Wright  and  Mr.  Cambreleng,  representa- 
tives in  Congress,  having  informed  the  Chamber  that  Congress 
would  not  probably  consent  to  a  warehousing  system  and  cre- 
dits upon  duties,  the  whole  subject  was  reconsidered  by  the 
Chamber,  and  it  was  anew  decided  that  both  should  be  asked 
for,  and  if  both  could  not  be  combined,  that  the  preservation  of 
the  credit  system  of  duties  was  to  be  preferred  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  general  warehousing  system. 

A  movement  was  made  in  the  Chamber  in  March,  1839, 
which,  however,  upon  being  referred  to  and  examined  by  a  com- 
mittee, was  deemed  inexpedient — the  proposition  was  to  ask 
such  increased  power  from  the  Legislature  as  would  enable  the 
Chamber  to  establish  a  tribunal  or  Court  of  Commerce,  with 
powers  to  determine  all  litigation  between  merchants — the  tri- 
als to  be  by  juries  taken  solely  from  the  classes  of  merchants 
and  traders — the  juries  to  determine  by  bare  majorities,  and 
proof  to  be  given  in  writing — iinally  the  juries  to  be  judges  both 
of  the  law  and  the  facts. 

This  seems,  friina  facie,  a  reasonable  proposition,  well  cal- 
culated to  facilitate  intelligent  and  prompt  decisions  of  mercan- 
tile disputes.  The  committee  of  the  Chamber,  nevertheless, 
deemed  it  inexpedient,  and  so  reported,  without  any  reasoning 
— directly  to  the  Chamber — which  acquiesced  in  the  report. 

14 


106  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  having  before  them  at  the  pend- 
ing session  in  April,  1839,  a  bill  abolishing  imprisonment  in  the 
case  of  non-resident  debtors,  the  Chamber  forwarded  a  brief  but 
forcible  memorial  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  as  likely  to  prove  in- 
jurious to  the  city  of  New  York,  always  a  creditor  city. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  being  on  a  visit  to  New 
York,  the  Chamber  at  the  same  meeting  resolved  to  pay  their  re- 
spects to  him. 

A  special  meeting  was  summoned  on  the  14th  of  December, 
1839,  by  the  first  Vice  President,  Isaac  Carow,  who  announced 
as  its  object  the  consideration  of  the  proper  marks  of  respect  to 
be  shown  to  the  memory  of  Lobert  Lenox,  late  President.  Ap- 
propriate resolutions  were  unanimously  passed,  and  ordered  to 
be  communicated  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  to  be  en- 
tered on  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber. 

Mr.  Lenox  is  commemorated  in  these  resolutions  as  "for  many 
years  a  zealous,  impartial  and  efficient  officer,  always  interest- 
ed in  the  well-being  and  success  of  the  Chamber,  as  an  eminent 
merchant  who  for  a  period  beyond  the  ordinary  course  of  hu- 
man life  had  been  distinguished  for  great  prudence,  a  clear  and 
sound  judgment,  and  unblemished  reputation." 

Robert  Lenox  was  a  native  of  the  town  of  Kirkcudbright,  in 
Scotland,  whence  he  was  sent  at  an  early  age  to  an  uncle  re- 
siding in  Philadelphia,  then  a  commissary-general  of  prisoners 
in  the  British  service.  He  went  to  school  for  a  time  at  Burl- 
ington, New  Jersey,  and  afterwards  entered  his  uncle's  office  as 
an  assistant,  where  he  continued  till  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  He  married  in  this  city  in  1783,  immediately  af- 
ter which  he  made  a  short  visit  to  his  native  country,  and  on  his 
return  settled  here  as  a  merchant,  where  he  remained  perma- 
nently until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  December,  1839,  in 
the  81st  year  of  his  age. 

Mr.  Lenox  commenced  business  on  a  scale  commensurate 
with  his  means,  then  slender  in  the  extreme ;  but  he  gradually 
and  steadily  enlarged  his  transactions  till  he  eventually  be- 
came one  of  the  most  extensive  as  well  as  successful  merchants 
in  the  United  States,  and  such  was  his  prudence  and  sagacity 
that  it  is  believed  there  was  not  a  year  during  the  whole  period 
of  his  actual  mercantile  life  in  which  he  did  not  find  his  pro- 
perty greater  at  the  close  than  it  had  been  at  the  commence- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  107 

ment.  This  will  be  deemed  the  more  surprising  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  a  fierce  war  raged  in  Europe  during  the  whole  time, 
and  that  the  commerce  of  this  country  was  continually  subject- 
ed to  the  most  flagrant  injuries  at  the  hands  of  the  principal 
belligerents.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  as  an  evidence  of  in- 
dustry, which  was  a  prominent  feature  in  his  character,  that 
even  when  most  extensively  engaged  in  business,  and  having 
no  partner  to  assist  him,  he  invariably  posted  his  own  books. 

After  the  war  of  1812  he  gradually  relinquished  mercantile 
pursuits,  occupying  himself  with  the  care  of  his  own  estate, 
which  had  then  become  large,  and  which  afforded  him  amuse- 
ment for  a  few  hours  daily  till  within  a  very  short  period  of  his 
death. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Chamber  on  10th  June,  1840, 
convened  for  the  purpose  of  filling  the  office  of  President,  made 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Lenox,  and  that  of  Treasurer,  in 
like  manner  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Henry  J.  Wyc- 
koff,  eighty -three  members  were  present — a  number  far  exceed- 
ing that  usually  in  attendance  at  regular  meetings. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  election,  a  resolution  amendatory 
of  the  By-laws  was  adopted,  to  the  effect  that  no  person  should 
be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President,  Vice  President  or  Treas- 
urer for  more  than  three  years  in  succession. 

The  choice  for  President  fell  on  Mr.  Isaac  Oarow,  the  first 
Vice  President,  and  Mr.  J.  I.  Palmer  was  chosen  Treasurer. 

At  its  regular  meeting  on  4th  February,  the  condition  of  the 
wharves  of  the  city  was  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Chamber,  in  connection  with  a  project  then  before  the  Common 
Council,  respecting  which  the  Committee  of  Wharves  and 
Piers  of  that  body,  had  requested  the  views  of  the  Chamber. 

The  points  presented  were : — 1.  As  to  the  expediency  of 
changing  the  present  mode  of  charging  and  collecting  wharf- 
age. 2.  As  to  the  expediency  of  increasing  the  rates  now  paid, 
and  if  increased,  to  what  extent.  3.  As  to  the  expediency  of 
charging  wharfage  as  is  done  in  Boston,  on  goods  landed.  Any 
other  information  or  suggestion  were  invited  by  that  committee , 
which  might  enable  it  to  report  upon  the  subject,  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  at  once  to  the  commercial  interests  and  to  the 
wharf  owners,  who  complained  of  being  inadequately  remu- 
nerated. 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

The  committee  of  the  Chamber  to  whom  the  subject  had 
been  referred,  reported  their  concurrence  in  opinion  with  the 
committee  of  the  Common  Council — that  the  condition  of  the 
wharves  and  piers  was  a  subject  of  just  reproach;  but  if,  as 
was  assumed,  their  neglected  state  was  to  be  explained  by 
the  inadequate  compensation  afforded  by  present  rates,  for  the 
use  of  said  property,  the  committee  of  the  Chamber  could  only 
consent  to  recommend  increased  rates,  after  the  wharves  should 
be  improved  and  enlarged,  being  as  they  were  in  their  actual 
condition,  quite  unequal  to  the  demands  of  the  shipping.  To 
the  principle  of  charging  a  wharfage  on  goods,  the  committee 
perceived  "  no  well-founded  objection,  provided  the  security 
and  accommodation  afforded  shall  warrant  the  charge." 

The  committee  suggest,  as  a  matter  of  expediency — if  to  be 
accomplished  on  reasonable  terms — that  the  city,  which  already 
owns  many  wharves  and  piers,  should  purchase  and  control 
all  the  piers  and  wharves,  which  then  might  be  subject  to  one 
uniform  system  of  rules  and  regulations. 

They  moreover  approve  of  a  plan  then  before  the  Common 
Council  "for  extending  all  the  piers  of  the  East  Eiver,  from 
the  Battery  to  Roosevelt  street,  so  as  to  correspond  with  pier 
No.  15  at  the  Coffee  House  Slip,  and  to  run  parallel  with  South 
street."  They  further  suggest  the  expediency  of  constructing 
a  new  basin  on  the  North  River,  for  the  accommodation  of 
steamboats  and  other  river  craft  lajd  up  during  the  winter, 
which  now  occupy  space  between  the  Battery  and  Old  Slip, 
which  is  much  needed  for  coasting  vessels  whose  trade  is  not 
interrupted  by  winter. 

This  report  was  accepted  by  the  Chamber,  and  the  same 
committee  was  continued,  in  order  that  when  the  matter  should 
be  brought  before  the  Legislature,  they  might  attend  to  it  in 
behalf  of  the  Chamber. 

These  recommendations  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce — only 
16  years  ago — for  diminishing  the  area  of  tlje  rivers,  while  en- 
larging that  of  the  docks,  present  matter  worthy  of  serious  re- 
flection at  this  period,  when  not  only  the  merchants  but  all 
interests  in  our  city,  are  looking  with  no  little  alarm  at  the 
possible,  nay,  too  probable,  evils  of  these  continued  encroach- 
ments on  the  bed  of  the  rivers  that  bound  and  encircle  us. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  109 

Mr.  J.  G.  King,  from  a  committee  to  whom  it  had  been  referred 
to  "consider  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  increase  the  use- 
fulness of  the  Incorporation,"  made  a  report,  which  was  order- 
ed to  be  printed  and  to  be  sent  to  each  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber, with  a  view  to  future  discussion.  This  report,  with  cer- 
tain amendments,  proposed  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Hurd,  was  largely 
discussed  at  a  special  meeting  on  17th  March,  held  by  permis- 
sion of  the  Mayor,  at  his  office  in  the  City  Hall,  and  the  result 
was  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  : 

1.  To  elect  a  large  number  of  new  members. 

2.  To  procure  offices  of  a  suitable  size  and  in  a  central  position,  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  Library  of  the  Chamber,  and  for  the  daily  meet- 
ing of  such  members  as  may  choose  to  resort  there,  it  being  recommend- 
ed that  every  one  appear  there  onee  a  day. 

3.  To  appoint  a  clerk  with  a  moderate  salary,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
give  his  constant  attendance  between  9  A.  M.  and  9  P.  M.,  who  shall 
record  daily  the  time  of  high  water,  the  course  of  the  wind,  all  foreign 
arrivals,  together  with  such  other  items  of  information  as  may  seem  of 
general  importance ;  to  have  files  of  newspapers  from  different  parts  of 
the  Union — one  at  least  from  each  state — and  that  one,  the  State  paper; 
together  with  such  public  documents  and  important  laws  as  may  be 
transmitted  to  the  office ;  to  perform  the  office  of  Librarian  or  assistant 
Librarian,  and  such  other  duties  as  may  be  required  by  the  Chamber. 

4.  To  keep  a  book  in  which  shall  be  transcribed  at  large,  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Standing  Committee  for  determining  matters  in  dispute, 
the  cases  submitted  to  that  committee,  with  the  decisions  thereupon,  for 
the  information  and  reference  of  the  merchants  generally. 

5.  That  an  annual  amount  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  be  paid  to  the 
Treasurer  by  each  member  of  the  Chamber,  in  addition  to  the  fee  for 
initiation,  said  annual  payment  to  entitle  the  member,  in  addition  to  the 
use  of  the  offices  and  library  of  this  Corporation  for  the  year  ensuing,  to 
the  privilege  of  submitting  any  case  for  arbitration  to  the  committee  for 
determining  matters  in  dispute,  free  of  any  charge  for  fees  so  far  as  such 
party  may  be  concerned  ;  which  uses  and  privileges  are  to  cease  on  omis- 
sion or  refusal,  after  due  notice,  to  continue  the  annual  payment  as  above, 
such  amount  being  payable  in  advance. 

6.  This  article,  which,  with  a  proposed  amendment,  contemplated  a 
change  in  the  composition  and  mode  of  electing  the  Standing  Commit- 
tee on  Arbitration,  and  the  creation  of  a  Board  of  Appeal  from  the  deci- 
sions of  that  committee,  was  recommitted,  and  the  result  was  finally 
reached,  in  the  adoption  of  what  now  constitute  Articles  XII.  and  XIII. 
of  the  By-Laws  of  the  Chamber.  These  establish  and  point  out  a  meth- 
od of  choosing  the  Committee  on  Arbitration  and  the  Committee  of  Ap- 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

7.  That  no  persons  be  admitted  members  of  this  Corporation  but  mer- 
chants and  others  whose  avocations  are  connected  with  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  the  country — who  are  American  citizens,  or  have  given  notice 
of  their  intention  to  become  such — or  continue  members,  if  not  resident 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  regularly  transacting  business  there ;  but  the 
privileges  enumerated  in  the  Vth  proposition  may  be  extended  to  persons 
other  than  those  who  are  not  members,  or  to 'persons  not  qualified  to  be- 
come members  of  the  Corporation,  subject  to  such  regulations  as  the 
Chamber  may  from  time  to  time  direct. 

8.  That  a  new  article  be  inserted  in  the  By-Laws  in  relation  to  the 
annual  payment  by  each  member,  in  addition  to  the  initiation  fee. 

9.  That  a  committee  of  nine  members  be  appointed  to  carry  into  effect 
the  above  report,  and  to  select  and  receive  names  of  persons  to  be  pro- 
posed for  admission  to  the  Chamber. 

The  committee  appointed  were  J.  G.  King,  J.  De  Peyster  Ogden,  Jas. 
Lee,  Chas.  H.  Russell,  Wm.  H.  Aspinwall,  Shepherd  Knapp,  Jas.  J.  Boyd, 
J.  R.  Kurd,  P.  M.  Wetmore. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  up  to  this  hour  these  judicious  re- 
solutions remain  a  dead  letter.  Shall  it  always  be  thus  ?  Shall 
not  the  time  come  when  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New 
York  shall  have  its  own  Hall — its  Library — its  Archives — its 
Gallery  of  Pictures — its  Statuary — its  Museum — and  above 
all,  its  Courts  of  Arbitration  and  Appeal  ? 

The  New  York  pilots  yet  clinging  to  an  expiring  and  odious 
monopoly,  were  active  in  Congress  to  procure  the  repeal  of  the 
law  of  1837,  which,  by  authorizing  the  competition  of  New 
Jersey  pilots,  had  so  greatly  contributed  to  the  security  of  life 
and  property  on  our  immediate  coast.  The  Chamber,  at  their 
meeting  in  May,  adopted  a  strong  memorial  to  Congress,  setting 
forth  conclusively  the  grounds  upon  which  the  existing  law 
should  be  maintained. 

At  the  June  meeting,  at  which  was  a  larger  attendance  than 
common,  the  subject  of  a  uniform  Bankrupt  Law  occupied  at- 
tention, when  the  following  resolution  was  unanimously  passed : 

Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  Chamber,  that  no  bankrupt  law  can  be 
devised  which  would  not  operate  unequally  in  the  present  condition  of 
the  commercial  interests,  and  injuriously  to  the  community  at  large. 

A  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  memorial  to 
Congress,  in  conformity  with  the  above  resolution,  and  to  pre- 
sent it  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  to  be  held  at  an  early  day. 

At  that  adjourned  meeting  a  memorial  to  Congress  was  pre- 
sented and  adopted,  in  which,  after  suggesting  doubts  whether. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  Ill 

in  the  then  disturbed  state  of  commerce  and  finance,  (June,  1840,) 
any  bankrupt  law  could  be  devised  that  would  not  be  more  mis- 
chievous than  beneficial,  expressed  the  confident  opinion  that  "  a 
bankrupt  law,  to  be  extensively  useful  or  permanently  beneficial, 
should  be  both  compulsory  and  voluntary — that  as  a  compulso- 
ry act,  it  should  apply  to  traders  only — and  as  a  voluntary  act, 
it  should  require  the  assent  of  a  majority  of  the  creditors  in  in- 
terest to  release  the  applicant,  with  large  discretionary  power 
in  the  judge  to  relieve  any  cases  of  hardship  or  oppression,  and 
that  no  debt  should  be  preferred."  An  unsuccessful  effort  was 
made  to  include  corporations  in  the  provisions  of  such  a  law. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting,  a  bankrupt  bill  being  then  before 
.the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
proceed  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  pas- 
sage of  a  bankrupt  law  which  should  embrace  these  provisions  : 
1.  That  no  debtor  should  have  his  discharge,  whether  as  vol- 
untary or  involuntary  bankrupt,  without  the  consent  of  such 
creditors  as  represent  at  least  one  half  of  the  amount  of  his 
debts.  2.  Nor  if  he  shall  have  made,  subsequent  to  June,  1840, 
or  in  contemplation  of  the  passage  of  a  bankrupt  law,  an  assign- 
ment by  which  any  preference  is  given  or  secured  to  one  credi- 
tor over  another,  unless  such  discharge  be  assented  to  by  a  ma- 
jority of  creditors  in  interest,  who  are  not  preferred.  3.  That 
the  law  shall  not  take  effect  before  July,  1841. 

This  subject  continued  to  occupy  most  of  the  attention  of  the 
Chamber  during  the  residue  of  this  year  and  the  early  part  of 
1841,  a  division  of  opinion  having  manifested  itself  among  the 
members  as  to  the  expediency  of  including  moneyed  corporations 
in  the  provisions  respecting  compulsory  bankruptcy.  The 
Chamber  finally  decided  against  the  expediency  of  their  being 
included.  The  reports,  both  of  the  majority  and  the  minority  on 
this  point,  are  spread  upon  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber,  and  set 
forth  clearly  the  arguments  on  each  side. 

The  pilots  again ;  a  new  revenue  bill  before  Congress ;  the 
expenses  and  charges  of  transacting  business  at  the  custom- 
house, and  for  storage ;  the  management  of  the  post-office,  and 
other  topics  of  general  interest,  formed  the  subjects  of  discus- 
sion and  elaborate  reports  during  the  year  '41.  There  is  a  re- 
port under  date  of  March  2d,  on  the  "  unnecessary  burdens  up- 
on trade,  more  particularly  minor  charges  and  administrative 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

expenses,"  which  might  well  be  consulted  now,  when  these  bur- 
dens are  largely  increased,  and  the  policy  seems  to  be  settled, 
though  fraught  with  wrong  and  corruption  at  every  stage — that 
party  organizations  may  rightfully  be  cemented  and  rewarded 
at  the  expense  of  the  business  classes  of  the  city,  by  the  multi- 
plication of  officers  and  of  charges  in  all  the  public  departments, 
but  especially  in  the  custom-house  and  post-office. 

A  memorial  to  the  Legislature  was  adopted,  praying  that  in- 
spection laws,  especially  as  applying  to  flour  and  tobacco,  the 
produce  of  other  States,  be  repealed. 

Resolutions  of  regret  and  condolence  on  the  death  of  Presi- 
dent Harrison  were  adopted  at  the  meeting  of  6th  April. 

The  vexed  subject  of  a  national  bank  was  brought  to  the  no- 
tice of  the  Chamber,  at  a  special  meeting  called  upon  the  requisi- 
tion of  five  members.  A  large  attendance,  (56,)  on  21st  April, 
attested  the  interest  of  the  Chamber  in  the  question,  when  a 
resolution  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority  to  memorialize  Con- 
gress for  an  act  to  incorporate  "a  National  Bank,  with  such 
capital  and  such  provisions  as  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature 
may  appear  expedient." 

A  substitute  for  this  resolution,  instructing  the  committee  to 
report  upon  the  "expediency  or  inexpediency"  of  such  a  step, 
was  voted  down,  as  was  a  motion  to  postpone  the  whole  sub- 
ject indefinitely. 

On  the  24th  May  a  very  able  memorial  to  Congress,  in  favor 
of  a  national  bank,  was  reported,  discussed  and  adopted. — 36 
ayes,  nays  20. 

At  this  period,  when  the  necessity  of  a  national  bank  seems 
no  longer  admitted,  and  when  the  Sui  Treasury  substitute, 
which,  as  understood  at  the  time,  was  so  overwhelmingly  con- 
demned, as  a  mischievous  experiment,  by  the  popular  vote  in 
the  election  of  Gen.  Harrison,  is  accepted  without  complaint  any 
where — thanks  mainly  to  the  then  unknown  and  unanticipated 
gold  of  California — ^the  historical  statements  and  the  arguments 
upon  the  merits  concerning  a  national  bank,  form  a  curious  chap- 
ter in  the  annals  of  the  Chamber. 

Congress  was  again  memorialized  in  July,  against  *'a  Reve- 
nue Law"  then  under  consideration,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
hastily  prepared,  without  adequate  inquiry  through  appropriate 
committees,  and  that  it  would  affect  injuriously  "many  leading 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  113 

interests  in  our  country,  and  prove  ruinous  to  some  important 
branches  of  industry." 

In  Feb.,  '42  the  Chamber  passed  resolutions  approving  a  plan 
submitted  to  them  by  R.  L.  Stevens,  through  Vice  President 
J.  G.  King,  which  had  been  laid  before  Congress,  for  construct- 
ing a  shot  and  shell  proof  iron  steamer,  for  the  defence  of  the 
harbor  of  New  York,  and  commending  unreservedly  to  the  con- 
fidence of  the  government  the  said  R.  L.  Stevens,  as  an  engineer 
of  "extensive  practical  and  scientific  knowledge."  Very  earn- 
est resolutions  were  also  adopted  in  March,  in  favor  of  con- 
tinued appropriation  for  the  Coast  Survey,  under  Mr.  Hassler. 
Memorials  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  for  a  repeal  or  modi- 
fication, at  least  as  respects  the  city,  of  the  usury  laws,  and 
to  Congress  for  the  separation  of  the  letter  mail,  on  the  great 
Southern  route,  from  the  paper  mail,  so  that  the  former  might 
be  accelerated — and  in  favor  of  a  warehousing  system,  were 
adopted  during  the  spring  of  1842.  At  a  numerously  attended 
meeting  in  April,  a  memorial  to  Congress  in  favor  of  a  Discri- 
ininating  Tariff,  presented  from  a  committee  by  C.  A.  Davis, 
and  which,  by  order  of  the  Chamber,  had  been  printed,  was  dis- 
cussed with  unusual  animation.  A  substitute  therefor,  by  Mr.  J. 
R.  Hurd,  declaring  that  the  special  office  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  was  to  foster  and  watch  our  foreign  trade,  and  that 
other  branches  of  industry  must  look  to  other  sources  for  the 
expression  and  protection  of  their  particular  interests;  and  that, 
moreover,  those  employed  in  navigation  and  foreign  commerce 
are  as  much  included  under  the  class  of  domestic  industry  as 
any  other — after  being  debated,  was  withdrawn  by  the  mover, 
when  the  whole  subject  was,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Goodhue,  indefi- 
nitely postponed. — 39  to  36. 

On  Tuesday,  3d  May,  '42,  at  its  regular  meeting,  the  Cham- 
ber elected  Mr.  J.  De  Peyster  Ogden,  the  first  Vice  President, 
President,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Carow,  who  declined  a  re-election. 

Of  Mr.  Carow,  who  has  since  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  we  have 
not  succeeded  in  obtaining  any  details  that  might  aid  our  own 
recollection  of  him  as  an  old  acquaintance — a  fellow  passenger 
under  trying  circumstances,  on  a  voyage  to  Europe  towards  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812 — and  as  a  man  of  mark  upon  'Change, 
though  of  the  greatest  modesty  and  simplicity,  Mr.  Carow  was 
of  very  retiring  disposition  and  habits — yet  of  very  clear  percep- 

15 


114  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

tions  and  decided  convictions — amiable  and  gentle,  though  with 
a  short,  quick  manner  occasionally,  that  might  be  taken  for  impa- 
tience, but  for  the  kind  smile  which  so  usually  accompanied  it. 
He  was  diligent,  cautious  and  exact  in  business,  and  therefore 
successful,  and  at  his  death  left  behind  him  no  enemies  and  a 
spotless  name. 

A  committee  was  appointed  at  the  meeting  in  August,  to  co- 
operate with  the  city  authorities  in  giving  courteous  reception 
to  and  facilitating  the  inquiries  of  a  commission  from  France, 
just  arrived,  on  board  the  French  war  steamer  Gomer,  with  a 
view  to  extend  the  friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, and  especially  to  the  establishment  of  a  line  of  steam- 
ers between  them.  No  quorum  was  had  again  till  November, 
when  a  committee  was  appointed  to  receive  and  welcome  D. 
Webster,  the  Secretary  of  State,  on  account  of  his  agency  in 
negotiating  the  recent  treaty  with  England.  An  able  memo- 
rial against  cash  duties,  without  a  general  warehousing  system, 
was  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  forwarded,  duly  authenticated, 
to  Congress. 

At  the  February  meeting  in  '43,  a  newspaper  reporter  hav- 
ing presented  himself  to  take  reports  of  what  passed  in  the 
Chamber,  it  was  resolved  that  no  person  could  be  present  at 
the  meetings  of  the  Chamber  other  than  members  thereof,  ex- 
cept by  permission  of  the  Chair — and  the  reporter  accordingly 
withdrew. 

A  well  argued  protest  by  a  committee  of  the  Chamber,  of 
which  Mr.  Geo.  Griswold  was  chairman,  against  a  proposed 
reduction  of  officers  in  the  New  York  Custom  House,  was 
adopted. 

Another  effort  of  the  New  York  pilots  to  hold  fast  to  their 
monopoly  being  in  progress  before  the  Legislature,  a  strong 
memorial  against  it  was  forwarded  by  the  Chamber. 

At  the  regular  meeting,  2d  May,  1843,  the  annual  choice  of 
officers  being  in  order,  Jonathan  Goodhue  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent, and  Samuel  Fox  and  Geo.  T.  Trimble,  Vice  Presidents. 
These  three  gentlemen  all  declined,  and  a  case  unprovided 
for,  so  far  as  appeared  by  the  By-Laws,  having  thus  arisen,  a 
committee  was  appointed  at  a  special  meeting  on  8th  May,  to 
ascertain  and  report  the  proper  mode  of  proceeding  in  the 
premises,  and  if  need  be,  to  take  the  advice  of  counsel.    This 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  115 

committee  reported  at  a  special  meeting  on  the  9th,  upon  the 
opinion  of  R.  Emmet,  Esq.,  that  owing  to  the  declining  of  the 
persons  elected,  there  had  been  "&  failure  to  elect,"  and  con- 
sequently that  the  old  officers  held  over,  and  that  under  the 
circumstances  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Chamber  to  proceed  as 
soon  as  may  be,  after  giving  the  usual  notice,  to  a  new  election. 
This  report  was  accepted,  and  at  an  election  held  on  3d  June, 
J.  De  Peyster  Ogden  was  chosen  President,  and  Jas.  G.  King 
and  Henry  K.  Bogert,  Vice  Presidents. 

At  the  June  meeting  the  tariff  discussion  was  renewed  upon 
the  following  proposition,  submitted  by  Jonathan  Goodhue  : 

Resolved,  That  whereas  it  would  be  manifestly  beyond  the 
power  of  Congress  to  suppress  directly  any  man's  lawful  busi- 
ness or  occupation,  it  is  no  less  so,  and  is  besides  a  dangerous 
usurpation,  to  effect  the  same  purpose  by  suppressive  or  pro- 
hibitory duties. 

Resolved,  that  whereas  all  protective  duties  are  to  an  equal 
or  greater  extent  suppressive  or  prohibitory,  therefore  this 
Chamber  is  decidedly  opposed  to  protection  as  a  principle, 
while  it  fully  realizes  the  necessity  of  a  Tariff  for  Revenue, 
and  of  so  much  suppression  and  protection  as  unavoidably  re- 
sults from  such  a  tariff. 

Various  substitutes  were  offered — all,  however,  more  or  less 
in  the  free  trade  and  anti-protective  sense — when,  after  long 
discussion,  the  whole  subject  was  laid  on  the  table. 

A  very  sensible  report,  adverse  to  any  change  in  existing  laws 
and  usages,  which  hold  the  seller  responsible  for  any  "  false 
packing"  in  cotton  or  other  produce,  was  accepted  by  the 
Chamber. 

A  report  of  interest  on  the  subject  of  commercial  intercourse 
between  Texas,  as  an  independent  nation,  and  the  United 
States,  was  made  to  the  Chamber,  but  the  resolution  founded 
upon  it,  asking  the  Senate  to  ratify  a  commercial  treaty  which 
had  been  negotiated  between  the  two  countries,  whereby  the 
cotton  of  Texas  was  to  be  received  free  of  duty  in  our  ports, 
and  our  vessels  were  to  be  received  free  of  duty  in  the  ports  of 
Texas,  was  lost. 

The  condition  of  the  trade  with  China,  consequent  upon  the 
recent  war  between  that  country  and  Great  Britain,  and  the 
commercial  treaties  entered  into,  was  brought  before  the  Cham- 


116  HISTOEY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

ber,  and  a  memorial  to  Congress  was  adopted,  asking  that  the 
appointment  be  authorized  of  one  Consul  General  and  four 
Vice  Consuls  in  that  country,  at  competent  salaries,  and  under 
prohibition  to  engage  in  any  business. 

A  memorial  adverse  to  duties  on  railroad  iron  was  also  adopt- 
ed. In  March,  '44,  appropriations  were  asked  from  Congress 
for  light-houses  on  Flynn's  Knoll  and  on  Execution  Rocks,  in  the 
Sound  ;  also  for  a  beacon  on  the  S.  E.  point  of  Romer's  Shoal. 

Resolutions  of  regret  and  condolence  were  adopted  on  occa- 
sion of  the  explosion  of  the  big  gun  on  board  the  U.  S.  ship 
Princeton,  by  which  several  eminent  persons  were  killed  and 
others  wounded. 

A  memorial  to  Congress  for  the  establishment  of  a  Mint  in 
this  city  was  adopted.  The  Chamber  consulted  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  on  the  expediency  of  trying  gas  for  light- 
houses instead  of  oil,  and  using  one  of  the  towers  on  the  Neve- 
sink  heights  for  the  experiment,  replied  very  decidedly  ad- 
versely to  any  such  attempt.  They  also  approved  the  intro- 
duction of  postage  stamps,  and  urged  the  reduction  of  postages. 

At  the  December  meeting  the  Warehousing  system  was  again 
commended  to  Congress,  in  a  well  reasoned  memorial.  A  de- 
tailed report  was  also  made  by  the  committee  to  whom  the  mat- 
ter had  been  referred,  as  to  which  party  the  agent  who  eifects 
insurance  in  mutual  companies,  or  those  at  a  distance  foi* 
whom  he  effects  insurance,  is  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  stock 
certificates  issued  from  time  to  time  by  said  companies  to  their 
customers. 

The  committee  decided  unanimously,  that  "upon  general 
principles  and  upon  the  grounds  stated  in  the  report,  the  jyarties 
here  who  effect  the  insurance  are  entitled  to  the  stock  certifi- 
cates," and  the  Chamber,  by  a  majority  of  2  to  1,  sustained 
this  conclusion. 

Parker's  system  of  nautical  signals  was  commended  to  gen- 
eral use  in  the  mercantile  marine — and  it  was  recommended, 
upon  the  common  sense  view  of  the  question,  that  the  old  fash- 
ion of  keeping  ship's  log-books  by  nautical  time,  (that  is,  mak- 
ing the  day  begin  at  12  o'clock  M.  on  the  preceding  day,)  should 
be  abandoned,  and  the  civil  time  be  in  all  cases  observed. 

In  March,  '45,  the  Chamber  unanimously  adopted  this  reso- 
lution, presented  by  Charles  H.  Marshall : 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  117 

Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  Chamber,  that  considering  the 
fact  that  the  original  donations  of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  were 
from  a  sailor  and  for  the  benefit  of  sailors — in  the  selection  of  a 
Superintendent  or  Governor  for  said  institution,  a  preference 
should  be  given,  all  things  else  being  equal,  to  a  nautical  man. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Mayor  of  Albany,  that  an  appropri- 
ation then  before  Congress,  for  removing  obstacles  in  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Hudson  below  that  city,  might  be  promoted  by 
any  favorable  opinion  of  the  Chamber,  resolutions  were  unani- 
mously adopted  urging  our  senators  and  representatives  to  sus- 
tain said  appropriation. 

The  untiring  monopoly  pilots  were  again  at  work  at  Albany, 
having  enlisted  the  sympathy  both  of  Gov.  Wright,  who,  in  his 
message  to  the  Legislature,  adopted  their  views  in  favor  of  a 
repeal  of  the  Pilot  Law  of  Congress,  and  of  the  Senate's  com- 
mittee, to  whom  the  matter  was  referred,  who  reported  in  con- 
formity with  their  views.  The  Chamber,  on  22d  February,  '45, 
adopted  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  adverse  to  this  change, 
so  conclusive  in  reasoning,  and  so  startling  in  facts,  as  to  have 
put  at  rest  for  ever  any  further  pretensions  of  these  monopoly 
pilots,  to  a  restoration  of  their  unjust  and  most  injurious  priv- 
ilege. 

The  Legislature,  instead  of  restoring  their  ancient  franchises, 
repealed  all  laws  relating  to  pilots  and  pilotage,  leaving  the 
business  to  be  conducted  under  the  United  States  law.  As 
this  however  prescribed  no  rules,  and  no  penalties  for  miscon- 
duct or  neglect,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Board  of 
Underwriters,  by  mutual  concert,  organized  a  "Board  of  Pilot 
Commissioners,"  two  to  be  appointed  by  the  Chamber,  two  by 
the  Board  of  Underwriters  and  one  by  the  Navy  Department, 
who  should  have  entire  charge  of  this  subject,  and  whose  cer- 
tificate should  be  conclusive  evidence  to  ship-masters,  that  the 
party  presenting  it  was  a  duly  licensed  pilot.  This  commis- 
sion has  been  and  is  in  beneficial  operation,  and  the  pilots 
licensed  by  it,  and  those  licensed  by  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
are  alone  authorized  to  conduct  vessels  in  and  out  of  Sandy 
Hook. 

A  project,  agitated  about  this  time  in  the  western  part  of  our 
State,  to  induce  the  Legislature  to  impose  the  same  amount  of 
tolls  on  merchandise  transported  on  the  Oswego  Canal,  38  miles 


118  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

long,  as  was  imposed  on  the  eastern  section  of  the  Erie  Canal, 
nearly  200  miles  long,  naturally  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Chamber,  and  a  brief  and  forcible  remonstrance  was  adopted 
against  the  unjust  scheme. 

At  the  May  meeting,  '45,  the  allotted  term  of  three  consecu- 
tive years  of  Mr.  Ogden's  presidency  having  expired,  J.  G-. 
King,  1st  Vice  President,  was  chosen  President. 

Of  Mr.  Ogden,  who  yet  lives  in  honor  and  usefulness,  in  con- 
formity with  our  original  plan  of  abstaining  from  any  special 
notice  of  "the  living,"  we  may  not  speak  in  detail  as  we  have 
done  of  those  of  his  predecessors  in  the  Presidency  of  the  Cham- 
ber. It  is  enough  to  say,  in  a  community  where  he  is  so  well 
known  and  so  much  considered,  that  he  adorns  the  profession  of 
a  merchant  by  a  cultivated  intellect  and  an  upright  life,  worthy 
of  the  old  Batavian  race  from  which  he  springs.  He  has  been 
connected  with  our  commerce  and  chief  commercial  men  for 
many  years,  and  to  his  pen  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  the 
strongest  and  cleverest  papers  embodied  in  the  minutes  of  the 
Chamber. 

A  letter  from  Professor  Hackley,  of  Columbia  College,  urging 
the  establishment  of  an  observatory  near  the  city,  which  had  been 
referred  to  a  select  committee,  was  most  favorably  reported  upon 
by  the  Chairman,  J.  D.  P.  Ogde?i,  on  4th  Nov.,  "as  an  object 
well  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  Chamber,  alike  for  its 
utility  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the  city,  and  for  the  main- 
tenance of  its  character  as  an  advocate  of  the  cause  of  Sci- 
ence." The  report  sketches  with  vigorous  and  ready  pen  the  va- 
rious advantages  to  all  pursuits  of  such  an  observatory,  which  it 
was  proposed  to  place  under  the  charge  of  Columbia  College, 
and  warmly  recommends  the  enterprize  to  "the  favorable  consi- 
deration of  the  Chamber,  and  to  the  patronage  of  the  mercan- 
tile community."  The  report  was  unanimously  accepted  and 
ordered  published ;  and  there,  unfortunately  for  the  interest  of 
science  and  commerce  and  the  reputation  of  the  city,  the  mat- 
ter rests  until  this  day. 

An  increased  and  unnecessary  tax  upon  sailors,  in  the  shape 
of  hospital  money,  having  at  the  instance  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Sailors'  Retreat,  been  authorized  by  the  Legislature,  it  was 
earnestly  condemned  by  the  Chamber,  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  urge  upon  the  Trustees  of  the  Retreat  not  to  collect 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  119 

this  tax,  so  partial  and  oppressive  in  its  nature,  and  not  required 
by  the  wants  of  the  institution.  This  expedient  having  failed, 
a  memorial  in  the  same  sense  was  adopted  to  the  Legislature. 
The  Quarantine  Laws  and  the  Light-house  System  came  under 
the  consideration  of  the  Chamber  at  this  period,  and  as  to  the 
latter  it  was  resolved  to  memorialize  Congress,  praying  for  an 
inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  light-house  service  of  the  United 
States,  and  into  the  expediency  of  increasing  the  number  of 
light-houses  and  improving  the  same.  The  Sub-treasury  Bill, 
before  Congress  in  March,  '46,  led  to  much  discussion  in  the 
Chamber,  and  a  memorial  was  finally  addressed  to  the  National 
Legislature,  opposing  the  contemplated  law,  especially  on  the 
ground  of  the  suddenness  of  the  change  to  an  exclusively  me- 
tallic currency."  A  formal  protest  of  seven  or  eight  members, 
was,  by  consent,  entered  on  the  minutes,  against  the  specific 
averment  in  the  memorial  that  the  proposed  measure  would 
exert  "  an  impartial  influenceybr  evil  upon  the  various  interests 
of  the  country."  The  words  underlined  were  those  specifically 
objected  to.  At  this  day  the  representations  of  the  probable 
effects  of  payments  in  coin,  and  anticipations  of  injury  to  all 
pursuits — so  forcibly  stated,  and  urged  with  so  much  convic- 
tion— cannot  be  read  without  leading  the  reflecting  mind  to  pon- 
der upon  the  contrast  between  the  fearful  anticipations  of  that 
day,  in  view  of  what  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  evil,  and  the 
actual  unquestioning  acquiescence  in  the  policy  now  paramount 
of  the  measure  then  so  much  dreaded.  Possibly  the  disco- 
very of  California's  golden  treasures  may  help  to  explain  this 
contrast,  and  account  for  the  present  popularity,  it  may  almost 
be  called,  of  the  Sub-treasury  law. 

In  September,  '46,  the  Chamber  passed  resolutions  approving 
the  course  of  Louis  McLane,  minister  of  the  United  States  in 
England,  in  promoting  the  peaceful  solution  of  the  Oregon  boun- 
dary dispute,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  receive  and  wel- 
come him  on  his  return  to  his  own  country.  This  duty  was 
properly  discharged,  and  the  address  to  and  reply  of  Mr.  McLane 
are  entered  on  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber  of  7th  September. 

By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  views  of  the 
Chamber  were  asked  by  the  Collector  of  the  Port,  as  to  the  ex- 
pediency of  causing  coasting  vessels  to  carry  lights  at  night,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  danger  of  collision;  the  committee  to  whom 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

this  matter  was  referred  reported  in  favor  of  "  a  general  law  re- 
quiring all  vessels  navigating  waters  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States,  when  going  free  or  before  tJie  wind,  to  carry 
a  wJdte  light  on  the  end  of  the  bowsprit,  and  when  on  a  wind  to 
carry  a  red  light  in  the  same  place."  The  Chamber  unanimous- 
ly agreed  to  this  recommendation,  and  directed  the  report  to 
be  transmitted  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  through  the 
Collector. 

A  report  in  favor  of  Whitney's  project  of  a  railroad  to  the 
Pacific,  was  made  by  Ohas.  King,  from  the  committee  having  it 
in  charge.  After  combating  the  objection  that  the  project  was 
visionary,  by  adducing  the  fact  that  a  committee  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  had  reported  Specifically  in  favor  of  it,  with 
a  bill  for  carrying  it  out,  which  was  only  not  acted  on,  because 
of  the  late  period  in  the  session,  (31st  July,)  and  that  at  a  previ- 
ous session  the  House  of  Representatives  had  reported  in  favor  of 
such  an  enterprize,  though  not  specifically  in  favor  of  Mr.  Whit- 
ney's plan.  The  report  argues  that  the  means  for  such  a  road 
can  only  be  certainly  obtained  from  the  public  lands — that  such 
an  application  of  these  lands  would  be  in  strict  keeping  with  the 
views  entertained  at  an  early  day  by  Mr.  Gallatin  and  other  pub- 
lic men  of  the  proper  use  to  which  these  lands  should  be  ap- 
plied— and  that  now,  while  the  land  was  yet  within  the  control 
of  the  government,  was  the  time  for  the  undertaking.  The  ne- 
cessity of  such  a  railroad  is  urged  "because  no  water  commu- 
nication is  practicable.  The  Platte,  the  Kansas,  and  other 
streams  descending  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  are,  as  we  learn 
from  Col.  Fremont's  narrative,  unnavigable  and  incapable  of 
being  made  navigable.  But  Oregon  is  our  own  and  Upper  Cali- 
fornia may  be,  and  these  territories  thus  separated  from  us  by 
the  granite  chain  of  the  stony  mountains,  are  sufficient  unto  them- 
selves, if  disposed  to  an  independent  existence.  If  it  be  our  de- 
sire, as  it  is  our  interest,  that  our  Union  should  extend  from  sea 
to  sea,  we  must  bind  it  by  something  stronger  than  parchment 
bonds — by  the  ties  of  brotherhood,  of  common  interests,  and  of 
easy  and  vapid  inter-communication — by  the  iron  bands — in 
short,  of  a  railroad.  This,  which  is  a  political  necessity,  will 
also  be  a  great  commercial  advantage.  Placed,  as  this  conti- 
nent is,  between  Europe  and  Asia,  we  may,  by  a  railroad,  bring 
China  within  forty  days  of  Europe,  and  cause  to  pass  over  our 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  121 

soil  the  teas  and  silks  of  the  one,  and  the  fabrics  of  the  other  in 
mutual  interchange,  each  leaving  its  toll  with  us  by  the  way." 
The  report  concluded  with  resolutions  inviting,  in  the  name  of 
the  Chamber,  "the  attention  of  Congress"  to  this  project,  and 
expressing  the  opinion  that  "through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
National  Domain  only,  can  it  be  successfully  accomplished," 
and  directing  copies  of  the  report  and  resolutions  to  be  forward- 
ed to  our  representatives  in  Congress  from  New  York,  to  the 
end  that  they  may  lay  them  before  that  body.  The  report  and 
resolution  were  unanimously  adopted. 

The  pilots  of  old  monopoly  still  pertinaciously  urged  upon 
Congress  the  repeal  of  their  beneficent  law  of  1837,  which  open- 
ed the  business  of  pilotage  to  competition;  and  again  this  most 
unconscionable  attempt  of  a  few  men,  to  advance  their  private 
interest  at  the  expense  of  the  convenience  and  safety  of  com- 
merce, and  of  human  life,  was  ably  and  successfully  resisted  by 
the  Chamber.  As  we  shall  not  again  refer  to  this  subject,  it 
may  be  well  here  to  reproduce  the  memorial  to  Congress,  adopt- 
ed by  the  Chamber  on  5th  January,  '47,  as  presenting  a  brief 
and  most  conclusive  statement  of  the  case,  by  showing  the  ben- 
eficial operation  of  the  law  which  those  monopolists  sought  to 
overthrow. 

MEMORIAL 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  in  Congress 
assembled. 

The  Memorial  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
represents — 

That  the  pilot  service  of  this  port  was,  vip  to  the  year  1837,  in  fact  a 
close  monopoly,  the  natural  fruits  of  which  were  neglect  of  duty,  and 
great  consequent  destruction  of  life  and  property. 

In  1837  Congress,  aroused  by  the  then  recent  enormous  and  aggravat- 
ed losses,  enacted  a  law  opening  the  business  to  adjoining  States  on  navi- 
gable waters. 

This  law  brought  into  existence  a  new  set  of  pilots,  under  the  law  of 
New  Jersey,  whose  skill  and  energy  have  gained  for  them  a  high  reputa- 
tion with  the  navigating  interests  of  this  port.  By  a  report  from  the  New 
Jersey  Commissioners  of  Pilotage,  it  appears  that  since  J 837,  these  pilots, 

up  to  the  31st  Dec,  1845,  had  brought  in  from  sea 3895  vessels, 

and  taken  out 3725      " 

and  during  eleven  months  of  1846, 519      " 

and  taken  out 487      " 

making  a  total  in  and  out  of 8626  vessels. 

16 


X8?  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

Of  the  519  brought  in  in  1846,  496  were  boarded  off  pilot  ground.    The 
number  of  pilots  varied  from  20  to  23  during  this  year. 

In  1845  the  Legislature  of  this  State  abolished  all  laws  in  relation  to 
pilotage.  Since  then  the  Board  of  Underwriters  and  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce have  appointed  a  few  practical  men  to  act  (in  conjunction  with  the 
commanding  naval  officer  at  this  station)  as  a  Board  of  Commissioners,  to 
examine  and  license  all  persons  who  may  apply  and  show  themselves 
qualified  for  the  service.  This  Board  have  appointed  17  pilots,  known 
as  Merchant  Pilots,  of  whom  14  learned  their  business  in  the  old  New 
York  pilot  service.  They  have  now  4  pilot-boats,  viz :  one  on  station  and 
three  for  cruizing;  but  up  to  the  1st  Nov.  last,  there  were  only  2  boats 
and  13  pilots,  who  have  taken  to  sea  during  this  year  268  vessels,  105  of 
which  drew  from  15  to  25  feet  water ;  and  brought  in  237,  all  but  15  of 
them  boarded  off  pilot  ground — 565  total  in  and  out. 

You  will  thus  perceive  that  the  wholesome  competition  now  existing, 
caused  the  boarding  off  pilot  ground  of  496  vessels,  out  of  519  brought  in 
this  year  by  the  New  Jersey  pilots,  and  of  222  out  of  237,  the  whole  num- 
ber brought  in  by  the  merchant  pilots;  whereas,  before  the  law  of  1837, 
it  was  a  rare  circumstance  to  have  a  vessel  boarded  off  pilot  ground — 
and  of  123  inward  pilotages  in  1835  and  1836,  but  eight  were  boarded  off, 
and  all  the  rest  in  shore. 

Of  the  old  pilots  who  seek  to  return  to  their  old  monopoly,  by  trying 
to  induce  a  repeal  of  the  law  of  1837,  there  are  probably  about  70  or  75, 
some  of  whom  have  grown  old  in  the  service,  and  are  becoming  unfit  to 
enter  into  fair  competition  with  younger  and  more  energetic  men,  and 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  perform  their  duties  consistently  with  the  de- 
mands of  commerce  and  the  dictates  of  humanity.  Of  their  services  we 
have  no  means  of  giving  any  account. 

From  the  foregoing  hasty  view  of  the  subject,  the  operation  of  the  law  of 
1837  must  be  seen  to  have  been  entirely  beneficial,  and  has  proved  satis- 
factory to  every  body  but  the  old  pilots: — and  We  therefore,  in  behalf 
of  the  navigating  interests,  and  the  thousands  of  lives  entrusted  to  the 
care  and  skill  of  pilots,  respectfully  but  most  earnestly  remonstrate  with 
your  honorable  bodies  against  any  alteration  or  repeal  of  that  most  benev- 
olent act  of  1837. 

GEORGE  T.  TRIMBLE, 

JAMES  LEE,  5>  Committee. 

MOSES  H.  GRINNELL, 


'■'} 


In  face  of  such  a  remonstrance  as  this,  it  might  be  supposed 
impossible  that  any  expectation  could  be  entertained,  or  any 
serious  endeavor  be  made  by  the  old  pilots  to  move  Congress  to 
the  repeal  of  a  law  thus  proved  and  approved — ^but  party,  which 
under  our  institutions,  seizes  upon  all  topics  for  its  advance- 
ment, was  appealed  to,  and  from  its  often  blind  impulses,  that 
success  was  hoped  for,  which  reason,  conscience  and  humanity 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  123 

alike  forbade.     Happily,  the  expectation  was  vain,  and  the  law 
of  1837  may  now  be  regarded  as  irrepealable. 

At  the  February  meeting  a  memorial  to  Congress  was  adopt- 
ed, asking  the  establishment  at  Washington  of  a  Hydrographi- 
cal  Bureau,  in  connection  with  the  Observatory  now  maintained 
there,  and  well  equipped  with  instruments  and  observers. 

A  codification  of  the  laws  of  the  State,  as  prescribed  by  the 
new  constitution,  being  then  under  consideration  of  the  Legis- 
lature, the  Chamber,  in  view  of  the  great  importance  of  having 
an  experienced  commercial  lawyer  in  the  commission  to  whom 
this  duty  was  to  be  confided,  unanimously  recommended  John 
Ducr,  Esq.,  as  one  "  whose  practical  experience  in  the  science 
of  codification,  apart  from  his  legal  attainments,  eminently 
qualifies  him  for  the  duty." 

An  earnest  remonstrance  was  in  March  addressed  to  the  Le- 
gislature, against  a  bill  there  pending,  authorizing,  in  addition 
to  the  poll  tax  of  one  dollar  on  each  emigrant,  the  exaction  of 
bonds  in  heavy  penalties,  from  all  passenger  vessels,  or  their 
consignees,  guaranteeing  the  city  against  any  charge  for  the 
period  of  five  years,  for  any  infirm  or  diseased  passenger 
brought  into  the  port  of  New  York,  or  for  any  child  of  the  same 
bom  after  arrival.  It  was  fairly  argued  that  the  exaction  of 
one  dollar  per  head  on  all  passengers,  of  whom  by  far  the  great- 
er number  were  able-bodied  and  well,  could  only  be  justified  at 
all  by  the  necessity  of  creating  a  fund  to  provide  for  those  who 
might  be  or  become  infirm  or  helpless ;  and  that,  moreover,  any 
such  law  would  prove  inoperative  for  the  protection  of  the  city, 
inasmuch  as  passengers  would  be  landed  in  contiguous  districts 
where  no  such  oppressive  restrictions  on  their  importation  ex- 
isted, and  who  could  not  afterwards  be  kept  out  of  this  city : 
so  that  while  we  should  lose  the  benefit  of  the  trade  and  the 
amount  of  the  poll  tax  in  such  cases,  the  city  would  still  be  ex- 
posed to  all  the  risk  of  being  obliged  ultimately  to  provide  for 
any  infirm  or  destitute  emigrants  that  might  thus  come  within 
our  border.  It  was  said  at  the  same  time,  that  if  upon  full  view 
of  the  subject,  the  sum  of  one  dollar  a  head  was  not  deemed  suf- 
ficient to  secure  the  city  against  the  contingency  of  providing 
for  the  destitute  or  infirm  emigrant,  there  would  be  no  objection 
on  the  part  of  ship-owners  to  a  larger  sum,  so  only  that  it  be 
specific  and  payable  on  arrival. 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

At  the  April  meeting,  strong  resolutions  were  adopted  and 
ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Legislature,  against  a  scheme 
which,  under  the  guise  of  providing  for  the  female  relatives 
of  seamen,  aimed  at  obtaining  a  share  of  the  head  tax  upon 
seamen. 

At  the  June  meeting,  upon  the  invitation  of  a  committee  of 
citizens  of  Chicago,  the  Chamber  decided  to  send  thither  rep- 
resentatives of  its  body  to  attend  the  "North-western  Harbor 
and  River  Convention,"  to  be  held  in  that  city  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  July.  The  Chamber  also  voted  to  convene  a  public 
meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  in  order  to  appoint  a  de- 
putation to  attend  the  same  convention.  Such  meeting  was  ac- 
cordingly held  at  the  Exchange,  and  appointed  delegates  to 
attend  the  Chicago  Convention. 

The  committee  of  the  Chamber,  appointed  to  welcome  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  the  city,  reported  that  they 
had  discharged  that  duty,  and  that  the  President  replied  in  gra- 
tifying terms  to  the  address. 

A  letter  from  Capt.  Gedney,  of  United  States  Navy,  was  laid 
before  the  Chamber  at  its  July  meeting,  referring  to  the  then 
recent  fact  that  the  United  States  ship  Ohio  had  grounded  on 
the  bar  both  in  coming  in  and  going  out,  drawing  24  feet  7  in. 
in  the  first  case,  and  when  outward  bound  drawing  25  feet  9 
inches.  Capt.  G.  ascribes  the  responsibility  for  these  untoward 
occurrences  to  the  opposition  of  the  old  New  York  pilots  to  the 
new  channel,  through  which,  says  Capt.  Gedney,  "the  same 
ship,  when  in  command  of  Commodores  Hull  and  Smith,  and 
on  an  ebb-tide,  drawing  26  feet  6  inches,  had  gone  out,  having 
at  the  time  by  soundings  2  feet  6  inches  to  spare." 

A  report  from  the  committee  to  which  was  referred  the  letter  of 
Capt.  Gedney,  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Chamber  the  re- 
sult of  an  investigation,  made  under  their  direction,  by  Mr.  Norris 
and  five  pilots,  of  the  depth  of  water  in  Gedney' s  Channel,  which 
may  be  summed  up  by  the  concluding  extract  of  Mr.  Norris' 
letter,  detailing  the  observations,  soundings  &c.,  made  in  and 
about  that  channel :  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  our  largest 
class  packet  ships  can  pass  in  and  out  through  Gedney's  Chan- 
nel, with  a  leading  wind,  at  all  times  of  tide,  and  frigates  and 
ships  of  the  line  when  the  tide  is  two-thirds  up  and  wind  favor- 
able." 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  125 

Copies  of  the  report,  and  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Chamber 
founded  on  it,  asking  for  some  change  in  the  character  and  po- 
sition of  several  of  the  buoys  in  the  channel,  were  transmitted 
under  the  seal  of  the  Chamber  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Mr.  J.  Gr.  King,  who  had  been  re-elected  President  for  three 
successive  years,  being  on  the  point  of  making  a  visit  to  Europe, 
resigned  the  Chair,  and  on  24th  September,  M.  H.  Grinnell  was 
chosen  President. 

The  Chamber  defined,  at  the  December  meeting,  the  extent 
to,  and  the  condition  upon,  which  it  may  and  should  rightfully 
exert  its  influence  on  questions  of  commercial  law  or  usage. 
A  letter  being  addressed  to  it  asking  "the  opinion  of  the  Cham- 
ber on  the  liability  of  endorsers  on  protested  bills  of  exchange," 
it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  reply,  that  the  Chamber  can- 
not entertain,  for  the  decision  of  mercantile  disputes,  any  ex- 
parte  communication  relating  thereto;  that  all  cases  for  arbi- 
tration must  be  submitted  to  the  Committee  on  Arbitration,  with 
a  written  statement  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  which  statement, 
before  submission,  must  have  the  assent  of,  and  be  signed  by, 
both  parties  interested. 

A  memorial  was  addressed  to  Congress,  on  the  authority  of 
investigations  made  by  officers  of  the  Coast  Survey,  asking  that 
the  navigation  of  Hell  Gate  be  made  safer,  and  that  the  rocks  in 
the  East  River,  between  Governor's  Island  and  Old  Slip,  be  re- 
moved. The  excessive  fees  of  the  Health  Officer,  for  boarding 
vessels  at  Quarantine,  came  under  review,  and  a  remonstrance 
against  them  to  the  Legislature  was  agreed  on,  on  the  ground 
that  the  fees  receivable  for  a  limited  commerce,  had  become 
excessive  with  our  largely  extended  commerce;  that  moreover 
the  duty  was  done  chiefly  by  deputy,  who  was  paid  a  salary  of 
$1500  out  of  the  Hospital  Fund.  The  memorial  states,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration,  that  for  five 
months  since  their  appointment,  the  fees  of  the  Health  Officer 
exceeded  "ten  thousand  dollars,  in  addition  to  which  he  is  pro- 
vided with  a  house  and  grounds,  and  his  table  is  furnished  from 
the  stores  of  the  Quarantine  Establishment." 

The  mortality  and  sickness  on  board  some  emigrant  vessels 
this  season  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Chamber,  and  com- 
mittees were  once  and  again  appointed  to  devise  a  plan  that 


126  HISTOKY  OP  THE   CHAMBEK. 

might  be  recommended  to  Congress  that  should  ensure  proper 
ventilation  for  passenger  vessels,  and  provision  for  those  whose 
improvidence  might  expose  them  to  suffering  on  the  voyage, 
through  inadequate  stores  laid  in,  without  too  much  burdening 
the  ship-owner,  or  enhancing  the  price  of  passage.  No  definite 
result  however  was  arrived  at. 

At  the  March  Meeting,  1848,  resolutions  of  respect  and  re- 
gret were  adopted  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  John  Q.  Adams, 
late  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  the  Chamber 
would  attend  the  funeral  procession  as  the  remains  of  the  august 
deceased  passed  through  this  city  from  Washington  to  Quincy. 

Remonstrances  against  any  increase  in  the  rates  of  wharfage 
were  passed  by  the  Chamber ;  also  against  any  change  in  the 
law  which  places  the  Marine  Hospital  at  Staten  Island  under 
charge  of  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration. 

At  the  period  of  the  annual  election.  May,  '48,  the  President, 
M.  H.  Grinnellj  who  had  been  chosen  to  fill  the  residue  of  the 
time  of  Mr.  J.  G.  King,  who,  on  going  abroad,  resigned  the 
Chair,  signified  his  wish  that  Mr.  K.,  who  had  returned  home, 
should  be  restored  to  the  Presidency ;  and  accordingly  Mr.  J. 
G.K.  was  chosen  President  and  Mr.  Grinnell  1st  Vice  President. 

A  certified  copy  of  the  act  incorporating  the  "  Institution 
for  the  savings  of  merchants'  clerks,"  having  been  received  by 
the  Chamber — at  whose  instance  it  was  passed — they  proceed- 
ed, as  required  by  its  provisions,  to  choose  nine  trustees  to 
take  charge  of  the  institution. 

On  the  25th  Nov.  a  large  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  and  of 
others,  not  subscribers,  was  held  at  the  Merchants'  Bank,  (the 
usual  place  of  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,)  for  the 
purpose  of  testifying  the  respect  of  the  mercantile  community  for 
the  memory  oi  Jonathan  Goodhue,  who  had  died  on  the  preceding 
day,  (Friday,  24th  Nov.)  Eesolutions  of  deep  regret  and  res- 
pect were  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  published,  and  to  be 
transmitted  to  his  family.  A  committee  was  also  appointed  to 
procure  a  bust  of  the  deceased,  which  was  afterwards  execut- 
ed by  Mr.  Brown,  and  is  now  in  possession  of  the  Chamber. 

A  committee  of  the  Legislature,  in  session  in  this  city,  taking 
testimony  as  to  the  expediency  or  necessity  of  removing  the 
Quarantine  and  the  Marine  Hospital  from  their  present  posi- 
tion, having  notified  the  Chamber  of  their  object,  and  express- 


HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  127 

ed  a  wish  to  know  its  views,  it  was  resolved  that  those  members 
specially  interested  and  informed  in  this  matter,  be  requested 
to  call  upon  the  committee,  and  lay  before  them  their  opinion. 
At  a  subsequent  meeting,  in  Feb.,  '49,  the  Chamber  unani- 
mously adopted  this  resolution  on  the  above  subject :  ''Resolved 
that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Chamber,  it  is  not  expedient  to 
change  the  present  site  of  the  Quarantine  Establishment  of 
this  port,  and  that  all  that  is  needful  for  public  security  is,  that 
the  proper  regulations  of  a  quarantine  establishment  be  duly 
enforced." 

Cheap  postage,  and  the  continuation  of  the  coast  survey  by 
the  general  government,  were  enforced  upon  Congress  by  very 
able  memorials  at  this  period. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  '49,  a  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted,  recommending  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine 
to  the  notice  of  all  connected  with  the  mercantile  profession, 
as  a  "journal  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  mercan- 
tile community." 

The  Chamber  went  into  the  election  of  officers,  before  which 
Mr.  King,  in  conformity  with  a  purpose  previously  announced, 
declined  being  again  a  candidate  for  re-election.  Mr.  Grinnell 
was  accordingly  elected,  and  Mr.  J.  D.  P.  Ogden  was  chosen 
1st  Vice  President. 

At  the  meeting  in  June  it  was  resolved  that  "  a  second  edi- 
tion of  the  Charter,  By-laws,  and  roll  of  members  be  printed, 
and  that  it  contain  also  the  Address  delivered  by  Mr.  Chas.  King 
before  the  New  York  Historical  Society  in  November  last." 

On  23d  July  the  Chamber,  in  conformity  with  unvarying 
custom  in  like  cases,  recorded  its  sense  of  the  national  loss,  in 
the  recent  death  of  the  former  President,  James  K.  Folk. 

Mr.  Whitney's  project  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  was  again 
warmly  endorsed  by  the  Chamber,  all  the  more  strongly,  now 
that  California  as  well  as  Oregon  had  become  integral  and  un- 
disputed portion  of  our  territory. 

An  application  in  behalf  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce  for  leave 
to  have  a  reporter  at  the  meetings  of  the  Chamber  was  granted, 
on  condition  that  the  Journal  furnish  slips  of  its  reports  to^such 
other  papers  as  might  desire  to  publish  them,  and  that  the  i*e- 
ports  be  submitted  beforehand  to  the  President  or  Secretary  of 
the  Board. 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

A  recommendation  that  Congress  make  an  appropriation  for 
a  steam  cutter  for  the  use  of  the  harbor  of  New  York,  was 
adopted  in  December,  '49 ;  and  also  for  the  means  to  remove 
rocks  from  the  East  Eiver  and  from  Hell  Gate. 

At  the  January  meeting  of  1850,  an  elaborate  and  conclusive 
memorial  to  Congress  was  adopted,  urging  the  justice,  and 
showing,  by  irrefutable  statistics  of  the  movements  of  coin,  the 
necessity  of  a  hrancJi  mint  in  this  city. 

The  justice  of  the  French  claims,  as  they  are  commonly  call- 
ed, upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  is  so  well  put 
in  the  annexed  resolutions,  adopted  by  the  Chamber  in  March, 
1850,  that  they  should  be  more  widely  known,  all  the  more  that 
these  claims,  though  oft  acknowledged  and  provided  for  by 
Congress,  have  been  vetoed  by  the  President,  and  yet  remain 
unsatisfied. 

Resolved,  That  the  capture,  by  French  cruizers,  during  the  war  exist- 
ing between  the  Eepublic  of  France  and  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain, 
prior  to  1800,  of  upwards  of  six  hundred  American  vessels  and  cargoes, 
while  engaged  in  lawful  commerce,  and  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  na- 
tions, and  of  treaties  then  existing  between  the  French  and  American 
Governments,  constituted  a  claim  on  France  which  was  admitted  by  her, 
and  which  it  was  the  unquestionable  duty  of  our  own  government  to 
maintain  and  enforce. 

Resolved,  That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  having,  by  the  ra- 
tification of  the  treaty  of  September,  1800,  "  released  France  from  these 
claims,  (to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Madison,)  for  a  valuable  consideration  in 
a  correspondent  release  of  the  United  States  from  certain  claims  upon 
them,"  did  thereby  assume  the  position  previously  occupied  by  France, 
and  by  thus  barring  the  claimants,  as  against  that  nation  as  well  as  by  its 
own  voluntary  promise  in  1795,  of  redress  in  case  of  injury,  became  bound 
to  indemnify  her  own  citizens  for  the  losses  thus  sustained. 

Resolved,  That  the  delay  which  has  so  long  prevailed,  and  which  has 
permitted  nearly  all  the  original  claimants  to  pass  unrequited  to  their 
graves,  furnishes  no  apology  for  the  longer  denial  of  justice  to  their  de- 
scendants, but,  on  the  contrary,  should  stimulate  the  present  generation 
to  provide  an  indemnity  which  has  been  advocated  for  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury by  many  of  the  ablest  statesm^en  and  jurists  of  our  country,  and 
which  is  clearly  required  by  that  article  of  our  national  constitution, 
which  declares  that  "  private  property  shall  not  be  taken  for  public  use 
without  just  compensation." 

Resolved,  That  we  earnestly  recommend  these  claims  to  the  early  and 
favorable  consideration  of  the  present  Congress,  and  that  we  especially 
invoke  in  their  behalf  the  services  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  New  York;  and  that  copies  of  these  resolutions,  duly  authen- 
ticated, be  forthwith  transmitted  to  both  houses  of  Congress. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  129 

If  the  statements  in  these  resolutions  respecting  the  French 
claims  be,  as  is  most  imdoubtingly  to  be  assumed  they  are, 
correctly  made,  it  is  hard  for  any  fair  mind  to  comprehend  the 
delay,  which  a  government  so  rich  as  this,  and  which  should  be 
just,  interposes  to  their  settlement. 

The  Chamber,  consulted  by  a  Senator  of  the  United  States 
as  to  the  probable  effect  upon  the  commercial  interests,  of  the 
abolition  of  corporal  punishment  on  board  vessels  of  the  mer- 
chant service,  replied  by  a  resolution,  that  they  were  in  posses- 
sion of  no  facts  which  would  authorize  the  recommendation  of 
any  change  in  the  discipline  on  board  vessels  of  the  commercial 
marine. 

At  the  July  meeting,  1850  resolutions  of  regret  and  condo- 
lence on  the  death  of  President  Taylor  were  passed.     During 
two  or  three  of  the  summer  and  autumn  months  of  this  year,  as 
heretofore,  no  quorum  was  had  at  the  regular  times  of  meeting. 
In  January,  '51,  a  well  reasoned  report  was  made  by  Mr. 
George  Curtis,  from  the  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  creating  a  bureau  for  the  adjustment  of  pri- 
vate claims  upon  the  United  States.     This  report,  which  the 
Chamber  adopted,  was  adverse  to  any  action  in  the  premises  by 
the  Chamber,  for  the  very  sensible  reasons  set  forth  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract :  "  Your  committee  are  opposed  to  memorializing 
Congress  on  this  subject,  because  they  conceive  that  it  is  not  a 
matter  within  the  peculiar  province  of  a  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
It  can  scarcely  be  said  to  treat  of  any  question  of  mercantile  law 
or  usage ;  it  has  no  exclusive  bearing  upon  commercial  inter- 
ests.    There  is  now  and  then  a  claim,  doubtless,  which  con- 
cerns merchants  or  ship-owners,  or  has  arisen  in  commercial 
pursuits,  but  the  great  mass  is  believed  to  come  from  other  quar- 
ters.    The  merits  of  particular  claims,  however,  and  the  pro- 
cess by  which  all  claims  shall  be  adjudicated,  are  separate  ques- 
tions.    We  may  be  well  satisfied  as  to  one,  and  yet  doubt  as  to 
the  other.     What  competency  has  the  Chamber  to  pronounce 
upon  the  best  mode  of  determining  such  claims  as  are  usually 
examined  in  Congress  by  the  respective  committees  on  public 
lands — on  pensions  and  revolutionary  claims — on  revolutionary 
pensions — on  private  land  claims,  and  on  invalid  pensions? 
Certainly  no  more  than  is  possessed  by  other  portions  of  the 
community.    Why,  then,  should  we  go  out  of  our  way  to  advo- 
17 


180  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

cate  a  measure,  of  whose  fitness  we  confessedly  do  not  feel  our- 
selves specially  qualified  to  judge,  and  in  which  the  class  which 
the  Chamber  in  gome  sort  is  supposed  to  represent,  has  no  pe- 
culiar interest?  *  *  *  *  If  we  often  go  out  of  our  legitimate 
sphere  we  shall  endanger  the  consideration  we  are  entitled  to 
when  we  keep  within  it.  If  we  speak  upon  every  topic  we  shall 
soon  cease  to  be  heeded  upon  any.  The  Chamber  cannot  step 
out  of  its  true  path  without  lessening  its  dignity,  impairing  its 
usefulness  and  detracting  from  the  weight  of  its  judgment.  En- 
tertaining these  views,  your  committee  recommend  that  the 
Chamber  adopt  no  further  proceedings  upon  the  subject." 

This  sensible  recommendation  was  at  once  concurred  in  by 
the  Chamber. 

At  the  February  meeting,  a  memorial  to  Congress  was  adopt- 
ed, co-operating  therein  with  the  citizens  of  the  north-eastern 
portion  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  asked  the  aid  of  the  Cham- 
ber towards  obtaining  appropriations  for  opening  a  good  inlet 
into  Albemarle  Sound,  upon  a  "plan  approved  by  Generals  Ber- 
nard and  Gratiot  and  Col.  Totten."  The  Chamber,  in  adopting 
this  memorial,  place  their  interposition  distinctly  on  the  ground 
"that  the  work  proposed  is  one  calculated  to  benefit  the  com- 
merce and  shipping  interests  of  the  whole  country,  and  thus  is 
a  national  object." 

The  pilots,  the  eternal  pilots!  were  again  troubling  the  Le- 
gislature, the  merchants  and  the  Chamber,  a  law  being  then  un- 
der consideration  at  Albany  for  regulating  pilots  and  pilotage 
in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  All  previous  laws  having  been  re- 
pealed, the  business  had  been  left  to  regulate  itself  under  free 
competition,  and  the  Chamber,  after  being  importuned  to  favor 
the  enactment  of  a  new  law,  determined,  on  the  contrary,  to 
*'  remonstrate  against  any  law  relating  to  the  pilotage  of  vessels 
in  and  out  of  Sandy  Hook;"  because,  according  to  almost  uni- 
versal opinion,  "the  business  never  was  so  well  conducted  as  it 
is  at  present,  in  consequence  of  the  wholesome  competition 
among  pilots,  which  regulates  the  matter  much  better  than  any 
law  can  do." 

Certain  sections  in  an  act  before  the  Legislature,  "  to  amend 
the  laws  for  the  assessment  and  collection  of  taxes,"  were  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  Chamber  by  the  report  of  a  committee  to 
whom  a  copy  of  the  act  had  been  referred,  and  an  earnest  re- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  131 

monstrance  was  adopted  against  the  sections,  subjecting  to  tax- 
ation all  merchandize  and  produce,  whether  foreign  or  domes- 
tic, sent  to  this  city  for  sale,  as  enforcing  taxes  for  the  same 
property  both  on  the  debtor  and  the  creditor,  and  as  investing 
the  assessor  with  inquisitorial  powers. 

An  able  report,  accompanied  by  the  draft  of  a  bill  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Legislature,  for  establishing  "  a  Court  of  Com- 
merce in  the  city  of  New  York,"  was  laid  before  the  Chamber 
at  the  May  meeting  in  '51,  and  discussed  at  large,  without,  how- 
ever, arriving  at  any  conclusion.  This  court  was  to  consist  of 
a  judge,  and  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  four  associate 
judges,  to  be  chosen  by  the  Chamber  from  among  its  own  mem- 
bers, to  decide  cases  with  or  without  juries,  (also  to  be  taken  from 
members  of  the  Chamber,)  as  the  parties  litigant  might  elect; 
to  be  a  court  of  record,  with  all  the  ordinaiy  powers  of  such  a 
court,  and  to  be  maintained  by  the  costs  on  suits,  if  suflBcient, 
if  not,  the  balance  to  be  paid  by  the  Supervisors  of  the  city, 
from  the  common  funds,  it  being  stipulated  that  any  excess  of 
costs  over  expenses  should  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury. 

There  is  much  speciousness  in  the  notion  of  referring  to  a 
court  of  merchants  mercantile  disputes ;  for  it  must  be  confess- 
ed that  in  the  ordinary  composition  of  the  juries,  and  very  often 
in  the  qualifications  of  the  judges  of  our  civil  courts,  there  is  not 
much  upon  the  whole  to  inspire  confidence  in  their  competency 
to  determine  intricate  suits,  turaing  upon  the  usage  of  mer- 
chants, or  abstruse  accounts,  or  foreign  usages,  currencies  and 
standards ;  yet  the  inconvenience  of  special  courts  for  special 
pursuits  and  vocations  is  obvious,  and  confusion  could  hardly 
fail  to  result  from  interpolating  upon  the  judicial  hierarchy,  a 
branch  which,  purporting  to  explain  and  administer  the  law, 
would  yet  be  distinct  from  and  wholly  independent  of  that  hier- 
archy, with  different  forms,  processes  and  officers. 

The  Chamber,  therefore,  acted  with  its  wonted  caution  and 
discretion  in  laying  this  subject  on  the  table. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  being  about  to  visit  the 
city,  the  Chamber,  at  a  special  meeting,  called  for  the  purpose, 
on  12th  May,  '51,  appointed,  according  to  usage,  a  committee 
of  its  body  to  unite  with  the  municipal  authorities  in  a  recep- 
tion of  the  President. 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

At  the  meeting  in  June,  Mr.  Grinnell,  re-elected  President 
for  the  third  time,  revived  that  provision  of  the  charter  which 
requires  the  officers  of  the  Chamber  to  take  an  oath,  faithfully 
to  execute  their  duties.  It  had  long  fallen  into  desuetude.  Mr. 
Grinnell  presented  to  the  Chamber  the  form  of  oath  he  had 
taken  before  a  commissioner,  (in  the  absence  from  town  of  his 
predecessor  in  the  Chair,)  and  then  proceeded,  as  by  the  char- 
ter he  has  authority  to  do,  to  administer  the  oath  to  the  other 
officers. 

The  oath  is  in  this  form :  I,"  A.  B.,  elected  to  the  office  of 

of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  do  hereby  swear  or  affirm,  that  I 
will  duly  diXidi  faithfully  execute  such  office  during  my  continu- 
ance in  it. 

A  special  meeting  was  held  14th  June,  '51,  "to  consider  the 
probable  effects  of  the  proposed  enlargement  of  the  Battery  up- 
on the  commerce  of  this  port."  Major  Delafield,  of  U.  S.  En- 
gineers, and  Lieut.  Woodhull,  U.  S.  Navy,  who  had  been  much 
occupied  in  soundings  and  surveys  of  the  harbor,  appeared  be- 
fore the  Chamber,  and  stated  their  apprehension  of  mischief 
from  the  projected  encroachment  upon  the  waters  of  the  harbor 
at  the  Battery.  The  Chamber,  after  these  gentlemen  withdrew, 
voted  their  thanks  to  them  for  the  interesting  details  and  infor- 
mation they  had  furnished,  and  then  passed  very  strong  resolu- 
tions condemning  this  enlargement,  and  expressing  their  fear  of 
serious  and  irreparable  injury  to  the  harbor  by  the  continuous 
building  of  piers,  and  the  fillings  up  that  follow  the  same  both  in 
the  East  and  North  rivers.  A  committee  of  five  of  the  most  in- 
fluential members  was  appointed  to  present  a  copy  of  these  reso- 
lutions to  the  Mayor,  and  to  urge  him  to  "  oppose  all  measures 
which  may  result  in  an  injury  to  the  navigation  of  those  noble 
rivers,  which  are  now  the  pride  of  our  city." 

The  mortality  among  American  seamen  in  foreign  ports,  and 
especially  in  the  ports  of  Havana,  Rio  Janeiro,  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  is  forcibly  dwelt  up- 
on, in  a  memorial  to  Congress,  adopted  by  the  Chamber  in  Oc- 
tober, '51.  Copies  of  it  were  sent  to  the  Chambers  of  Commerce 
of  all  our  cities,  with  a  request  that  they  would  co-operate  in 
the  object.  The  claim  upon  Congress,  to  provide  in  some  fitting 
way,  relief  for  this  meritorious  class  of  our  countrymen,  is 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  183 

placed — independently  of  the  calls  of  humanity  and  patriot- 
ism— upon  the  material  facts  that,  under  the  name  of  Hospital 
money,  every  seaman  contributes  twenty  cents  a  month  from  his 
wages — the  ostensible  object  and  only  justification  of  which  tax 
are,  to  provide  for  their  care  and  comfort  in  sickness;  that  from 
this  source,  from  unclaimed  sums  due  deceased  seamen,  and 
from  uncalled-for  prize-money,  a  sum  amounting,  it  is  said,  to 
more  than  a  million  of  dollars  has  accumulated  in  the  Public 
Treasury.  It  is  urged  most  irresistibly,  one  would  think,  that 
this  amount — which  would  be  ample — should  be  appropriated 
to  the  proper  care  and  relief  of  our  sick  seamen  in  foreign  ports. 

In  February,  '52,  another  very  strong  memorial  was  address- 
ed to  Congress,  asking  this  time — not  for  a  Branch  Mint — but 
that  the  Mint  of  the  United  States  be  transferred  from  Philadel- 
phia to  New  York — for  the  very  sufficient  reasons  that  two  thirds 
of  the  gold  from  California  comes  first  to  New  York ;  that  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  revenue  of  the  United  States  from  customs 
are  paid  in  coin  in  this  port ;  and  that  of  the  $52,000,000  in  gold 
coined  at  the  Philadelphia  mint  during  the  year  1851,  proba- 
bly $50,000,000  went  from  New  York,  at  a  cost  to  the  owners 
of  the  bullion  of  $125,000. 

The  state  of  the  usury  laws  occupied  attention,  and  unani- 
mous resolutions  were  passed,  asking  for  the  enactment  of  a  law 
that  should  legalize  loans  upon  bonds,  bills,  notes,  &c.,  not  hav- 
ing more  than  12  months  to  run,  at  any  rate  of  interest  that 
might  be  agreed  upon  by  the  parties,  and  restricting  bank  loans 
and  discounts  to  7  per  cent.;  and  also  loans  on  mortgage.  Ap- 
plication was  also  made  to  Congress  for  an  alteration  in  the  ar- 
ticle of  our  treaty  with  France,  which  permits  a  duty  oijivc 
francs  per  ton  to  be  levied  on  American  vessels  in  French 
ports.  The  grounds  of  this  application  were,  that  two  thirds  of 
the  tonnage  employed  in  the  trade  between  the  two  countries  be- 
ing American,  the  lower  the  rate  of  duty  established  by  recipro- 
cal agreement,  the  more  favorable  it  would  be  to  our  interests ; 
and,  moreover,  that  in  consequence  of  recent  changes  in  the  na- 
vigation laws  of  England,  English  vessels  are  admitted  into 
French  ports  at  a  duty  almost  nominal :  so  that  an  American 
steamer  of  the  size  of  those  of  the  Havre  line,  pays  nearly  on^ 
thousand  dollars  more  tonnage  duty  than  an  English  steamer  of 
the  same  size — a  diff'erence  operating  very  injuriously  to  our 
shipping  engaged  in  trade  with  France. 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

A  remonstrance  to  the  Legislature  was  agreed  to,  against 
any  alteration  in  the  law  regulating  the  duties,  &e.  of  Marine 
Inspectors  and  Port  Wardens,  without  previous  consultation 
with  those  interested  in  navigation. 

The  comparative  inefficiency  and  absolute  mismanagement 
of  the  ligJit-houses  on  our  coast,  were  made  the  subject  of  an  able 
and  searching  report  at  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  '52 ;  and 
resolutions  were  adopted  warmly  seconding  the  recommenda- 
tion of  a  Light-house  Committee  raised  by  Congress,  for  the  per- 
manent establishment  of  a  Light-house  Board. 

At  this  annual  meeting,  the  stated  time  of  service  of  M.  H. 
Grinnell  having  expired,  Mr.  Elias  Hicks,  1st  Vice  President, 
was  chosen  his  successor. 

Of  Mr.  Grinnell  the  time  has  not  come — far  distant  be  it — 
to  speak  as  we  speak  of  the  dead,  and  therefore  in  recording 
his  relinquishment  of  the  presidency  of  the  Chamber,  we  are 
restricted  by  our  rule  to  the  mere  communication  of  the  fact, 
adding,  only,  that  in  public  spirit,  in  mercantile  success,  in  so- 
cial position,  and  in  the  possession  of  hosts  of  friends,  he  holds 
a  place  which  makes  the  name  of  Moses  H.  Grinnell  a  house- 
hold word  almost  throughout  our  land. 

Large  numbers  were  added  about  this  time  to  the  Chamber, 
and  awakened  interest  in  it  seems  to  have  prevailed,  as  evinced 
by  the  fuller  attendance  at  the  monthly  meetings. 

In  June  the  Chamber  recommended  to  the  special  considera- 
tion of  Congress  "  a  reciprocity  arrangement  with  the  British 
North  American  Provinces  for  the  free  interchange  of  the  na- 
tural productions  of  the  respective  countries;  embracing,  also, 
a  full  and  joint  participation  in  the  fisheries,  and  the  free  navi- 
gation of  the  St.  Lawrence;"  and  likewise  called  upon  them,  in 
"the  exercise  of  a  paramount  duty,  to  take  proper  and  efficient 
measures,  and  make  the  most  liberal  appropriations  to  avert 
the  injurious  consequences  to  the  commerce  of  the  country,  by 
causing  to  be  removed,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  any  im- 
pediment which  may  affect  the  navigation  of  that  most  impor- 
tant river." 

An  application  was  likewise  made  for  a  grant  aifive  thousand 
dollars  towards  the  purchase  of  a  cemetery  for  seamen,  who  die 
at  the  hospital  in  this  city,  averaging  from  100  to  120  every 
year.  These  are  maintained  by  the  United  States  Treasury, 
(from  the  proceeds  of  the  hospital  tax  paid  by  seamen,)  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  135 

provision  for  the  expenses  of  their  burial  is  likewise  made  from 
the  same  fund ;  but  there  being  no  special  place  allotted  for 
their  interment,  they  are  for  the  most  part  buried  among  pau- 
pers and  criminals  in  Potter's  Field.  The  apprehension  of 
such  a  disposal  of  their  remains  is  represented  in  the  memorial 
of  the  Chamber  to  Congress,  as  "peculiarly  distressing  to  sea- 
men, inmates  of  the  Hospital,  in  the  prospect  of  death — and 
that  they  often  give  utterance  to  their  feelings  in  the  most  im- 
pressive language."  It  is  sad  to  think  that  such  a  representa- 
tion as  this  should  have  been  made  in  vain,  and  the  more  so, 
when,  as  has  already  been  stated,  a  very  large  surplus  exists 
in  the  United  States  Treasury  of  the  fund  composed  of  the  ex- 
cess beyond  expenditure  of  the  hospital  tax  upon  seamen. 

At  the  July  meeting,  application  was  made  to  Congress  for 
the  repayment  of  S12,500,  expended  from  private  sources,  for 
M.  Mailleferfs  successful  operations  in  blasting  the  rocky  ob- 
structions to  navigation  in  Hell  Gate,  and  for  an  additional  ap- 
propriation of  $10,000  for  still  further  blastings  in  Hell  Gate, 
and  on  Diamond  Eeef,  in  the  East  Eiver,  between  Governor's 
Island  and  the  Battery,  so  as  to  secure  a  greater  depth  of  water 
in  both  places. 

A  memorial  to  Congress,  of  the  importing  merchants,  praying 
a  return  of  duties  levied  in  excess  of  the  duties  prescribed  by 
law,  was  laid  before  the  Chamber,  to  the  end  that,  if  approving 
its  object  and  tenor,  they  might  give  it  their  sanction.  This  was 
done.  The  memorial  states  very  ably  the  ground  of  the  claim, 
that  any  such  excess,  whether  paid  under  protest  at  the  time  or 
not,  should  be  returned ;  because  the  exaction  of  such  excess  was 
illegal,  ab  initio,  and  could  never  therefore  acquire  any  bind- 
ing force.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  taken  the  ground, 
that  only  where  protest,  specifically  setting  forth  the  objection 
to  the  legality  of  the  duty,  was  made  at  the  time  of  payment, 
ought  such  payment  to  be  refunded.  This  extraordinary  posi- 
tion was  founded  upon  a  no  less  extraordinary  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  case  of  C.  W.  Lawrence 
vs.  Casivell  and  others,  that  the  imposition  of  a  higher  duty  than 
is  authorized  by  law  is  not  illegal,  "in  the  legal  sense  of  the 
term,"  if  the  party  paying  it  did  not  enter  a  protest  against  the 
exaction. 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

A  special  meeting  was  held  on  11th  January,  '53,  to  express 
the  sense  of  the  Chamber  on  the  death  of  their  President,  EUas 
Hicks.  Appropriate  resolutions  were  passed,  and  the  Chamber 
resolved  to  attend  the  funeral. 

Of  Elias  Hicks  we  have  only  the  record  of  a  quiet,  uneventful 
life,  marked  in  all  its  transactions  by  probity  and  firmness. 

He  was  the  son  of  Valentine  Hicks,  of  Jericho,  L.  I.,  and 
grandson  of  the  Elias  Hicks,  renowned  as  a  Quaker  preacher, 
and  he  adhered  through  life  to  the  Society  of  Friends. 

He  was  brought  up  in  the  counting-house  of  Samuel  Hicks, 
and  commenced  business  for  himself  as  a  ship  chandler,  in  part- 
nership with  his  father-in-law,  Robert  Hicks,  under  the  firm  of 
Robert  Hicks  &  Sons.  Subsequently,  about  the  year  1847,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Frost,  under  the  firm  of  Frost  & 
Hicks,  for  the  transaction  of  the  shipping  business. 

He  became  about  this  time  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  died  as  President  of  the  Chamber,  having  in  this, 
as  in  every  other  relation  of  life,  fulfilled,  satisfactorily,  the  du- 
ties committed  to  him,  and  leaving  a  name  without  reproach. 

A  well  reasoned  memorial  to  Congress  against  a  bill  propos- 
ing a  seignorage  on  the  coining  of  gold  at  the  United  States 
Mint,  was  adopted  in  February.  It  presents  in  a  clear  and 
strong  light  the  injustice  of  imposing  upon  the  miner  alone  a 
tax,  of  which  the  principle  is  only  justifiable  that  the  tax  is  de- 
signed for  the  general  benefit,  by  securing  a  coinage  of  equal  and 
ascertained  value,  and  therefore  should  be  a  general  charge. 
The  requirement  by  the  Post-ofiice,  that  ship-letters  for  own- 
ers and  consignees  be,  like  all  other  letters,  sent  to  the  Post- 
ofiice,  was  discussed  without  definite  action.  The  Chamber,  at 
the  request  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  of  Wilmington, 
N.  C,  co-operated  with  them  in  an  appeal  to  Congress  for  an 
appropriation  to  deepen  the  entrance  of  Cape  Fear  river,  put- 
ting their  action  in  this  case  upon  the  ground  that  the  object 
was  one  that  affected  the  interests  of  general  commerce,  as  well 
as  the  local  interests  of  Wilmington. 

A  bill  amending  or  altering  the  law  authorizing  the  warehous- 
ing of  foreign  goods  imported  into  the  United  States,  was  at  this 
time  reported  by  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  and  under  the  conside- 
ration of  the  Senate.     The  general  provisions  were  satisfactory 


HISTOEY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  187 

to  the  Chamber,  but  certain  proposed  amendments — one  of 
which  was  to  require  that  all  private  warehouses  wherein  bonded 
goods  were  deposited  should  pay  a  license  of  from  five  hundred 
to  one  thousand  dollars — and  another  abolishing  drawback  on  all 
goods  entered  for  consumption,  and  upon  which  duty  had  been 
paid — were  earnestly  resisted.  A  memorial  setting  forth  the 
objections  to  both  these  provisions,  and  urging  the  abolishing 
of  all  charges  and  petty  fees  connected  with  storing  merchan- 
dize in  the  public  warehouses,  were  adopted  by  the  Chamber, 
with  resolutions  founded  on  it,  and  all  were  directed  to  be  laid 
before  Congress. 

At  the  April  meeting,  in  1853,  unanimous  resolutions  were 
adopted  in  favor  of  the  enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and 
against  the  proposal  to  tax  railroads,  as  calculated,  by  burden- 
ing transportation,  to  turn  away  from  the  city  and  State  the 
productive  commerce  heretofore  enjoyed  by  them. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  Peletiah  Perit  was  chosen 
President,  and  Mr.  Perit  took  his  seat  and  the  oath  at  the  July 
meeting. 

At  a  special  meeting,  held  for  the  purpose  in  June,  an  urgent 
memorial  to  the  Legislature  was  adopted,  praying  for  a  law  to 
restrain  further  encroachments  upon  the  East  Eiver,  and  that  a 
permanent  water-line  be  fixed  by  commissioners,  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Legislature,  at  its  present  session. 

An  application  to  the  Post  Master  General  was  authorized, 
that  he  continue  the  mail  service  by  the  Charleston  and  Savan- 
nah steamers,  as  an  indispensable  link  in  our  postal  communi- 
cations, and  one  which,  in  winter  especially,  was  more  reliable 
than  that  overland. 

The  Chamber  also  remonstrated  with  the  Legislature  against 
any  grant  of  any  portion  of  the  present  unoccupied  river  fronts, 
for  any  other  than  commercial  purposes.  This  remonstrance 
was  called  forth  by  the  project  then  in  favor,  of  taking 
what  were  known  as  Jones'  Woods,  with  a  large  front  on  the 
East  River,  for  a  public  park. 

At  the  August  meeting  resolutions  were  adopted  warmly 
commending  the  choice  by  the  U.  S.  Government  of  Lieut. 
Maury,  as  their  representative  to  the  Convention  to  be  held  at 
Brussels,  in  order  to  adopt  some  uniform  plan  of  making  mete- 
orological observations  both  by  sea  and  land  throughout  the 
18 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

world,  and  recommending  Mr.  Maury  as  eminently  qualified  by 
learning  and  experience,  to  the  kindness  and  consideration  of 
all  commercial  associations  and  others  interested  in  the  sub- 
jects he  had  so  well  observed  and  explained. 

At  the  regular  meeting,  4th  October,  1853,  the  President, 
before  proceeding  to  business,  announced  the  death  that  morn- 
ing of  Jas.  G.  King,  whereupon  all  ordinary  business  was  sus- 
pended, and  a  committee  being  appointed  to  prepare  resolutions 
suitable  to  the  occasion,  the  Chamber  adjourned  till  the  next 
day.  On  the  next  day,  accordingly,  resolutions  of  deepest  re- 
gret and  admiration  for  the  deceased  were  adopted,  and  the 
Chamber  immediately  adjourned. 

Among  these  resolutions  were  the  following : — 

Resolved,  That  the  Chamber  do  declare  their  sense  of  the  great  intelli- 
gence and  high  moral  worth  of  the  deceased  ;  of  his  strictest  integrity  and 
honor ;  of  his  great  public  spirit ;  of  his  general  usefulness  ;  of  his  libe- 
ral Christian  charities ;  and  of  the  high  tone  and  elevation  of  his  manly 
nature. 

Resolved,  That  the  Chamber  have  no  higher  example  than  the  charac- 
ter and  career  of  their  late  associate,  to  point  out  to  the  admiration  and 
imitation  of  the  rising  members  of  the  mercantile  community. 

Of  him  thus  commemorated  by  his  associates,  and  in  the  spi- 
rit of  the  second  resolution  which  holds  him  up  as  an  example 
to  those  who  are  coming  forward  on  the  scene  he  so  long 
adorned,  it  may  be  pardoned  to  the  affectionate  remembrance 
of  a  brother,  if  he  should  speak  more  at  length  than  he  has  done 
of  others  who,  like  J.  G.  King,  had  been  honored  with  the  Pre- 
sidency of  the  Chamber. 

A  native  of  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  was  born  in  May, 
1791,  he  was  the  third  son  of  Rufus  King  and  Mary  Alsop  his 
wife.  His  early  education  was  in  England,  where  he  went 
with  the  family  on  the  appointment  of  his  father  as  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  that  country,  in  1796,  and  after  spending 
a  year  in  Paris,  in  order  to  the  acquisition  of  the  French  lan- 
guage, he  came  home  in  1803,  and  was  soon  after  placed  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Gardener,  of  Boston,  to  be  prepared  for  Harvard 
College,  of  which  his  father  was  an  alumnus.  He  in  due  sea- 
son entered  the  College,  completed  his  four  years  there,  and 
was  graduated  with  credit  in  1810. 

His  choice  of  a  profession  was  the  law,  and  his  preparatory 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  139 

studies  were  pursued  under  the  guidance  of  Peter  Van  Schaick, 
of  Kinderhook,  an  aged  and  eminent  black-letter  lawyer,  and 
at  the  law  school  of  Litchfield,  Ct.,  then  under  the  guidance  of 
Tappan  Eeeve  and  Judge  Gould. 

An  early  marriage,  however,  with  the  daughter  of  Archibald 
Gracie,  then  a  leading  merchant  of  this  city,  turned  his  views 
to  commerce,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  in  1815,  he  embarked 
in  the  commission  business;  but  after  a  short  time,  in  1818,  re- 
moved to  Liverpool,  (England)  and  with  his  brother-in-law,  A. 
Gracie,  Jr.,  established  the  house  of  King  &  Gracie.  His  career 
there  as  a  merchant  was  skilful  and  successful,  though  brief,  for 
the  commercial  disasters  which,  both  in  England  and  America, 
marked  the  course  of  the  years  1822-3,  overwhelmed  his  con- 
nections at  home,  and  so  much  impaired  his  business,  that  he 
accepted  an  offer  made  to  him  in  1824,  by  Mr.  Prime,  to  be- 
come a  partner  on  advantageous  terms  in  the  flourishing  house 
of  Prime,  Ward  &  Sands,  of  this  city.  Having  wound  up  the 
affairs  of  the  house  in  Liverpool,  fulfilling  all  its  engagements, 
he  returned  to  the  United  States,  after  an  absence  of  six  years, 
without  addition  indeed  to  his  fortune,  but  with  a  large  and  di- 
versified experience,  and  in  possession  of  the  good  will  and 
friendship  of  some  of  the  leading  commercial  and  banking 
houses  of  Europe,  whose  confidence  he  had  gained  by  the  di- 
rectness of  his  character  and  of  his  mercantile  transactions. 

Entering  upon  his  new  career  with  his  accustomed  energy, 
method,  and  application,  he  found  himself,  before  many  years, 
either  by  the  death  or  withdrawal  of  the  older  partners, 
at  the  head  of  the  house,  whose  business  he  had  enlarged,  and 
which  was  very  prosperous.  His  habits  as  a  merchant  were 
prompt,  systematic,  and  regular.  He  never  permitted  himself 
to  be  drawn  by  any  prospects  of  advantage,  however  alluring, 
from  the  prescribed  line  of  his  business ;  and  the  confidence  in- 
spired by  this  one  trait  of  character,  was  doubtless  as  produc- 
tive in  the  long  run,  of  profitable  results,  as  might  have  arisen 
even  from  successful  deviations  from  his  proper  business. 

But  Mr.  K.  did  not  permit  business  so  to  engross  his  time 
and  interest  as  to  be  insensible  to  the  claims  which  society  and 
the  republic  have  upon  every  citizen.  Dispensing  always  a 
liberal  hospitality,  he  enjoyed,  and  himself  contributed  largely 
by  his  varied  knowledge  and  conversational  talent  to,  the  plea- 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

sure  of  refined  society.  His  charities  were  numerous,  silent  and 
discriminating ;  and  though  averse  to  political  life,  he  never- 
theless deemed  it  a  duty  obligatory  on  every  one  to  take  such 
part  and  interest  in  public  affairs  as  becomes  the  citizen  of  a  free 
representative  republic.  In  the  great  cause  of  public  improve- 
ment, he  also  took  a  lively  interest,  and  in  1835,  at  a  period 
when  the  N.  Y.  and  Erie  Railroad — an  enterprize  just  com- 
menced, and  which  by  its  boldness  and  its  certain  benefits 
to  the  public  enlisted  both  his  admiration  and  his  judg- 
ment, was  struggling  against  difficulties  and  discouragement — 
he  consented  to  accept  the  Presidency  of  the  company,  declin- 
ing at  the  same  time  any  compensation  or  salary  ;  new  life  was 
thereby  imparted  to  the  enterprize.  Mr.  K.  personally  visited 
and  inspected  the  whole  line  of  the  route,  and  although  the  dis- 
turbed state  of  the  currency  soon  after,  and  embarrassments  in 
the  business  affairs  of  the  country  at  large,  retarded  its  pro- 
gress, and  Mr.  K.  himself  was  before  long  obliged,  by  the  de- 
mands of  his  house  upon  his  time  and  labors,  to  relinquish  his 
connection  with  the  company  as  its  President,  the  impulse  given 
to  it  by  his  aid  at  a  critical  moment,  may  be  said  to  have  in- 
sured its  successful  accomplishment,  though  by  other  and  able 
hands. 

Having,  in  1832,  removed  his  residence  to  Weehawken,  in 
New  Jersey,  opposite  to  the  city,  he  took  great  pleasure  in 
adorning  a  spot  by  nature  of  almost  unrivalled  beauty,  and  in 
gradual  outlay  and  well-directed  labor  for  its  embellishment,  he 
found  a  most  congenial  relief  from  the  toils  of  business.  Yet, 
loving  and  enjoying  country  life  as  he  did,  he  was  as  regular 
and  attentive  as  ever  in  the  important  concerns  of  his  house, 
of  which  the  chief  responsibilities  now  rested  upon  him.  Every 
emergency  found  him  ready  and  steady,  never  unduly  elated 
by  prosperity,  never  depressed  nor  desponding,  when  adverse 
times  discouraged  and  alarmed  others.  Hence,  therefore, 
when  the  year  1837,  with  its  sweeping  commercial  disasters, 
shook  others  from  their  propriety,  Mr.  King  looked  on,  not  un- 
moved, certainly,  for  his  sympathies  were  warm  and  generous, 
but  without  being  at  all  disconcerted,  and  with  the  calm  self- 
reliance  of  one  who  had  measured  the  whole  case,  and  knew 
the  extent,  the  applicability,  and  the  adequacy  of  the  resources 
which  could  be  availed  of  to  meet  it.    His  voice,  therefore,  his 


HISTOKY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  141 

countenance,  his  counsel,  were  cheerful  and  full  of  hope,  when 
clouds  seemed  heaviest,  and  his  hand  was  stretched  forth  to 
sustain.  It  was  a  time  nevertheless  to  try  men's  nerves,  as 
well  as  credit.  Failures  of  largely  extended  houses,  commenc- 
ing at  New  Orleans,  spread  throughout  the  land.  New  York 
had  its  full  proportion.  In  London  too  several  houses,  chiefly 
connected  with  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  were  brought 
to  a  stand.  The  Bank  of  England  set  its  face  against  a  fur- 
ther extension  of  credit,  and  this  policy  reacted  with  great  in- 
tensity in  New  York.  The  seasons  too  had  been  unpropitious, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  our  history  as  a  nation,  even  wheat  was 
imported  for  our  own  consumption.  Nearly  one  and  a  half 
million  bushels  of  wheat  were  brought  from  Europe  into  New 
York,  in  the  course  of  the  spring  of  1837.  Every  where  credit 
was  strained  to  its  utmost,  and  universal  bankruptcy  seemed 
impending.  The  State  of  New  York,  for  a  loan  not  exceeding 
a  half  million  of  dollars,  at  6  per  cent,  interest,  publicly  adver- 
tised, received  not  a  single  bid. 

Mr.  King  was  too  sagacious  and  experienced  not  to  perceive 
the  magnitude  of  the  danger,  but  he  believed  and  maintained 
that  with  proper  effort  and  self-reliance,  and  zealous  mutual  co- 
operation, it  could  be  surmounted  without  unreasonable  sacri- 
fice. Particularly  was  he  anxious  and  urgent  to  avert  what 
seemed  the  too  probable  loss  and  disgrace  of  a  suspension  of 
specie  payments,  in  a  time  of  universal  peace,  and  when  no 
scourge  of  pestilence  or  famine  was  at  hand  to  paralyze  indus- 
try, or  extenuate  voluntary  insolvency.  But  his  efforts  were 
unavailing.  A  combination  of  causes,  pecuniary  and  political, 
overbore  all  individual  opposition,  and  the  banks  of  New  York, 
after  a  long  and  honest  struggle  in  which  they  were  not  heartily 
sustained  by  the  moneyed  corporations  of  other  cities,  and  not 
unanimously,  by  any  means,  in  their  own,  were  obliged  on  the 
10th  of  May  to  notify  their  suspension  of  specie  payments ;  and 
their  example  led  to  instantaneous  suspension  throughout 
the  United  States.  When  the  calamity  occurred — for  such 
he  continued  to  regard  it — Mr.  K.  directed  all  his  energy  to 
render  it  as  little  injurious  and  of  as  short  duration  as 
possible.  He  at  a  public  meeting  of  all  interests  at  the  Ex- 
change presented  and  enforced  a  series  of  resolutions,  which 
were  adopted  with  entire  unanimity,  pledging  the  community 


142  HISTOKY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

to  sustain  the  banks  and  each  other  in  every  legitimate  effort  at 
resumption,  and  as  the  best  means  of  hastening  that,  to  abstain 
from  all  annoyance  of  the  banks,  and  by  mutual  aid  and  for- 
bearance to  mitigate,  as  far  as  possible,  existing  difficulties. 
After  having  done  all  that  depended  upon  him  at  home,  Mr.  K. 
embarked  in  the  month  of  October,  1837,  for  England,  with  the 
purpose  foremost  in  his  mind  of  inducing  aid,  if  possible,  from 
that  quarter  towards  the  restoration  of  specie  payments  in  the 
United  States ;  and  he  was  entirely  successful.  The  Bank  of 
England,  which  had  set  its  face  in  a  particular  manner  against 
certain  houses  connected  with  the  trade  in  the  United  States, 
made  aware  by  the  representations  of  Mr.  King  that  both  the 
interest  of  its  customers,  and  the  general  interests  of  trade 
would  be  secured  and  promoted  by  a  speedy  resumption  in  the 
United  States — changed  its  views  so  completely  as  to  consent 
to  consign  to  Mr.  King's  house  in  New  York,  one  million  sterling 
in  gold.  The  high  and  liberal  views  which  prompted  this 
operation  will  be  apparent  on  reading  the  annexed  copy  of  the 
letter  from  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  of  England  to  Mr.  King, 
notifying  the  arrangements  for  shipping  this  gold  : — 

Bank  of  England,  March  20th,  1838. 

Sir— I  have  to  acknowledge  your  favor  of  yesterday's  date,  and  to  ex- 
press ray  concurrence  in  its  contents,  in  respect  to  the  consignment  of 
gold  coin  and  bullion,  and  the  returns  for  the  same.  Mess.  Baring,  Brothers 
&  Co.,  have  also  addressed  me,  guaranteeing  the  transaction  and  the  pay- 
ment of  the  bills  of  exchange  which  may  be  remitted. 

In  reply  to  your  observations  as  to  the  latitude  it  may  be  expedient  to 
give  in  the  time  for  making  these  returns,  I  beg  to  say  that  it  is  not  at  all 
the  intention  of  the  bank  that  undue  haste  shall  be  exhibited  in  taking 
bills  of  exchange  for  remittance.  I  am  quite  aware  that  any  such  action 
on  the  exchange  of  New  York  would  tend  unnecessarily  to  raise  premi- 
ums on  bills.  The  object  of  the  bank  in  the  operation  is  not  one  of  profit 
— the  whole  transaction  is  one  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  its  operations. 
Profit,  therefore,  is  not  what  the  bank  seeks,  but  by  a  judicious  course  of 
operation  it  may  be  secure  from  loss ;  and  it  is  fairly  entitled  to  a  mode- 
rate rate  of  interest,  if  the  progress  of  the  transaction  will  admit  of  it. 

I  deem  it  inexpedient  to  fix  any  precise  period  within  which  such  re- 
turns are  to  be  made.  Having  shown  your  house  so  much  confidence  in 
entrusting  the  management  of  this  great  concern  in  their  hands,  it  would 
but  ill  agree  with  that  confidence,  if  I  were  to  prescribe  limits  which  might 
in  many  ways  act  most  inconveniently,  and  deprive  the  bank  of  the  ad- 
vantage of  your  judgment  and  experience,  in  both  of  which  I  hope  to  find 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  143 

a  satisfactory  result  to  this  important  undertaking*.    "Wishing  you  a  safe 
voyage,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

T.  A.  CURTIS,  Governor. 
James  Gore  King,  Esq., 

Partner  of  the  House  of  Mess.  Prime,  Ward  8j  King,  of  New  York, 
now  in  London. 

The  shipments  of  gold  commenced  the  next  day  and  were  ra- 
pidly continued.  Mr.  King  himself  speedily  returned,  and  all 
the  good  effects  he  had  anticipated  from  the  operation,  so  hon- 
orable to  him  in  every  view,  were  promptly  and  abundantly  re- 
alized. As  the  coin  arrived,  it  was  disposed  of  on  easy  terms 
to  the  banks  here,  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  and  thus  the  city 
of  New  York,  which  had  been  the  first  in  the  reluctant  decision 
to  suspend,  had  the  honor  and  great  satisfaction  to  lead  the  way 
itself  in  resumption,  and  to  smooth  the  way  for  others,  and  the 
whole  transaction  was  wound  up  between  the  New  York  house 
and  the  Bank  of  England,  with  a  prompt  and  satisfactory  result. 

Mr.  King  had  been  long  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, his  connection  with  which  began  with  his  earliest  mer- 
cantile career,  dating  back  to  1817.  He  attached  importance 
to  this  connection,  and  looked  upon  the  Chamber  as  a  body 
through  which  the  voice  of  the  commerce  of  this  great  country 
should  be  expressed  authoritatively  on  all  questions  concerning 
its  welfare.  He  was  a  regular  attendant  at  its  meetings,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  its  deliberations.  In  1841  he  was  chosen 
1st  Vice  President,  and  by  annual  re-election  continued  so  un- 
til 1845,  when  he  was  chosen  President,  and  served  as  such  the 
allotted  term  of  four  years.  Over  and  above  the  ordinary  du- 
ties of  that  oflficcy  the  President  of  the  Chamber  is,  by  the  will 
of  Capt.  Eandall  the  liberal  sailor-founder  of  the  Sailors' Snug 
Harbor,  ex  officio  a  Trustee  of  that  noble  charity.  Mr.  King 
entered  very  thoroughly  upon  this  duty,  and  was  instant  on  all 
proper  occasions,  and  in  all  proper  ways,  both  to  render  this 
charity  as  beneficent  as  possible  to  those  for  whom  it  was  found- 
ed, and  to  confine  it  to  them.  Hence  he  always  sought,  so  far 
as  depended  upon  his  vote  and  influence,  to  place  all  its  subor- 
dinate trusts  and  offices  in  the  hands  of  sea-faring  men,  and  to 
abolish  all  expenditures  not  needed  for  the  accommodation  and 
benefit  of  sailors,  and  especially  all  sinecures. 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER. 

On  retiring  from  the  Chair  of  the  Chamber  in  1848,  in  the 
course  of  an  address  of  thanks  to  the  assembled  members,  for 
the  partiality  and  kindness  with  which  his  official  career  had 
been  sustained,  he  dwelt  with  particular  emphasis  upon  the  im- 
portant ex  officio  connection  of  the  President  with  the  foundation 
of  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  and  expressed  fervently  the  hope, 
both  in  the  interest  of  the  sailor,  who  had  so  good  a  right  to 
look  up  to  the  merchant  as  his  natural  guardian,  and  in  behalf  of 
the  dignity  and  efficiency  of  the  Chamber,  that  this  part  of  the 
President's  duty  might  always  be  scrupulously  and  diligently 
executed. 

It  has  been  already  said  that,  although  without  any  taste  for 
political  life,  Mr.  King  acknowledged  the  obligation  of  every 
citizen  in  a  representative  republic  to  take  part,  when  properly 
called  upon,  in  the  discharge  of  its  public  trusts.  Hence,  when 
in  the  agitated  state  of  politics  in  1848,  Mr.  King  was  urged  by 
friends  in  New  Jersey,  of  which  he  was  now  a  resident,  and  by 
friends  in  New  York,  to  suffer  himself  to  be  named  for  a  seat  in 
Congress,  he  acquiesced,  and  having  done  so,  he  at  once  betook 
himself  personally  to  the  canvass,  and  to  the  end  that  his  per- 
son and  opinions,  as  well  as  his  manner  of  stating  them,  might 
be  widely  known  by  those  whose  votes  he  solicited,  he  visited 
the  chief  places  of  the  district,  addressing  large  meetings,  and 
making  no  disguise  of  any  opinion,  and  assuming  none  for  the 
occasion,  he  was  elected  by  one  of  the  largest  majorities  ever 
cast  in  the  district.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, at  Washington,  as  a  member  of  the  XXXI.  Con- 
gress, on  Monday,  2d  December,  1849,  and  was  present,  with- 
out flinching,  at  every  ballot  for  Speaker,  63  in  all,  and  pro- 
tracted through  nearly  three  weeks,  when  at  last  Howell  Cobb 
was  chosen,  and  the  power  of  the  House  was  thus  thrown  into 
the  hands  of  those  opposed  to  the  President  about  to  be  inau- 
gurated. Gen.  Taylor.  Mr.  King's  congressional  career  was 
distinguished  for  his  close  and  assiduous  attention  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  House.  The  first  session  lasted  nearly  ten  months, 
and  during  that  whole  time  Mr.  King  was  never  absent  a  sin- 
gle day,  unless  kept  from  his  seat  by  actual  illness.  It  was 
part  of  his  conviction  of  duty  that  no  man  was  at  liberty  to  ac- 
cept a  trust,  and  yet  make  the  fulfilment  of  its  demands  depen- 
dent upon  bis  own  convenience  or  personal  interest.    Whatever 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  145 

lie  undertook  as  trustee,  for  either  private  or  public  ends,  he 
most  conscientiously  and  diligently  carried  out  with  all  his 
ability.  As  a  debater,  Mr.  King's  manner  was  calm,  collected 
and  dignified,  with  a  mind  well  stored,  and  ready  and  graceful 
elocution,  and  a  well  modulated  voice,  he  never  spoke  without 
commanding  attention,  for  he  only  spoke  on  questions  which  he 
well  understood,  and  always  finished  when  he  had  said  what 
was  needful  for  the  elucidation  of  his  topic,  avoiding  alike  prosy 
essays  and  passionate  appeals.  His  style  of  speaking  was  in- 
deed the  type  of  his  mind,  of  which  a  rare  soundness  of  judg- 
ment, and  steady  adherence  to  views  never  hastily  nor  incon- 
siderately adopted,  were  the  marking  characteristics.  On  all 
questions  of  commerce,  of  finance,  of  the  public  revenue  and  the 
mode  of  its  collection,  his  practical  information  enabled  him  to 
throw  much  needed  light,  and  to  render  useful  service  in  their 
settlement.  His  political  views  were  definite  and  decided,  yet 
never  intolerant.  He  was  not  easily  disturbed  amid  the  angry 
discussions  of  party,  nor  at  all  to  be  diverted  from  the  path  he 
had  marked  out  for  himself,  by  big  talk  or  little  expedients.  A 
seat  in  Congress  was  not  for  him  a  pastime,  nor  a  stepping 
stone,  but  an  earnest  call  by  strenuous  and  disinterested  labors 
for  his'country,  to  approve  himself  faithful  to,  and  worthy  of  the 
constituents  who  had  placed  him  where  he  was;  but,  though 
avoiding  none  of  the  duties  of  his  station,  he  early  felt  that  it 
was  not  the  life  for  him,  and  determined  accordingly  that  he 
would  not  again  permit  his  name  to  be  used  for  public  ofiice. 

Accordingly,  at  the  expiration  of  the  XXXI.  Congress,  in 
March,  1851,  he  returned  with  delight  increased  by  the  con- 
trast with  the  life  at  Washington,  to  his  trees,  his  garden  and 
his  beautiful  rural  home,  putting  off  his  official  robes  with  far 
more  alacrity  than  he  had  put  them  on. 

Withdrawing  more  and  more  from  the  cares  and  the  require- 
ments of  business,  he  gave  himself  serenely  and  cheerfully  to 
that  preparation  for  another  life,  the  need  of  which  advancing 
years  bring  to  every  sensitive  and  thoughtful  mind,  and  which 
to  his  mind  was  brought  all  the  more  impressively,  by  reason  of 
occasional  disturbance  of  the  regular  action  of  the  heart  and 
lungs.  These  symptoms  he  accepted  without  murmur  as  a  kind- 
ly and  merciful  warning.  "There  is  something  wrong  here," 
he  would  say,  laying  his  hand  on  his  broad  chest,  "I  will  fight 
19 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

it  while  I  can,  but  it  is  to  prevail,"  and  beautifully  did  he  carry 
out  this  manly  sentiment. 

Of  a  well  set  and  vigorous  frame,  untouched  by  excess  of  any 
sort,  with  health  uninterrupted  'till  towards  the  close  of  life — 
a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body — he  took  his  part  in  the  world 
hopefully,  cheerfully,  with  head  and  heart  elate.  He  was  a 
thorough  MAN.  Diligent  and  punctual  in  business,  he  yet  did 
not  permit  it  to  shut  out  reasonable  recreation  and  the  society 
of  his  household.  In  the  family  circle  and  in  his  inner  life,  he 
was  the  radiant  centre  of  as  much  true  happiness,  and  warm  and 
reciprocal  affection  as  the  world  has  witnessed.  His  manner, 
his  voice,  his  eye,  his  smile  revealed  the  deep  springs  within  his 
heart  of  love  and  joy,  and  of  inventive,  considerate  and  unsel- 
fish kindness.  With  an  exterior  somewhat  grave,  he  united  the 
warmest  and  tenderest  feelings,  the  quickest  and  truest  sensi- 
bilities, and  the  most  unselfish  and  unchangeable  attachments. 

He  loved  his  horse,  his  dog  and  his  gun,  and  was  a  proficient 
in  the  use  of  all  of  them — the  country  had  great  charms  for  him. 
To  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and  flowers,  and  to  planting  trees, 
he  devoted  much  time  latterly,  and  the  groves  of  Highwood 
(his  residence  on  the  Weehawken  heights,  opposite  the  city) 
will  recall  for  generations  the  tasteful  and  skillful  hand  which 
planted,  arranged  and  grouped  them.  These  cannot  follow  him, 
but  they  will  bear  witness  to  him  long  after  all  those  who  now 
enjoy  their  grateful  shade,  shall  have  followed  him  to  that  rest- 
ing place  where  the  funereal  cypress  weeps  alone. 

Of  simple  and  childlike  faith,  of  unaffected  and  unpretend- 
ing piety,  with  the  consciousness  of  a  life  well  spent,  and  of 
every  duty  fulfilled  so  far  as  may  be  predicated  of  any  mere 
mortal,  with  no  rancor  in  his  heart  against  any  human  being, 
surrounded  by  all  temporal  blessings,  in  the  midst  of  a  devoted 
family,  all  centering  their  affections  on  him,  and  each  emulat- 
ing his  good  example,  with  everything  to  gild  the  close  of  life, 
he  seemed  as  the  shadows  were  lengthening  to  have  withdrawn 
himself  measurably  from  the  busy  haunts,  chiefly  that  in  his 
lovely  and  beloved  home  he  might  busy  himself  in  devising 
how  to  do  good  to  others,  and  thus  add  still  brighter  and  more 
beautiful  tints  to  the  calm  yet  glowing  sunset  which  his  pro- 
phetic heart  seemed  to  feel  was  near  at  hand. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  147 

And  soon  came  death — fearfully  sudden  indeed — yet  not  un- 
anticipated. Previous  severe  spasmodic  paroxysms  of  the 
heart  and  lungs,  without  warning,  and  so  far  as  could  be  un- 
derstood without  any  predisposing  cause,  had  made  him  aware 
of  the  peculiar  uncertainty  of  his  life.  He  had  looked  at  the 
case  with  the  calm  and  sound  judgment  which  was  his  charac- 
teristic, and  having  come  to  the  conclusion  that  at  any  moment 
one  of  these  paroxysms,  somewhat  more  prolonged  than  usual, 
would  terminate  his  existence,  he  prepared  himself  for  such  an 
issue ;  he  set  his  house  in  order,  and  though  manifesting  no 
anxiety,  omitting  no  duty,  failing  not  in  the  cheerfulness  of  his 
social  intercourse,  and  to  the  common  eye  evincing  by  no  sign 
that  he  felt  himself  to  be  at  every  instant  on  the  brink  of  the 
grave,  it  is  believed  that  he  had  not  for  a  long  while  even  laid 
his  head  on  the  pillow  at  night,  without  the  thought  that  he 
might  not  see  another  morning,  nor  without  saying,  as  with  al- 
most his  latest  breath  he  repeated,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 

And  this  prevision  as  to  the  manner  of  his  death  was  real- 
ized. On  Monday,  3d  October,  he  had  been  well  as  usual  and 
retired  to  bed  at  his  accustomed  hour.  He  was  soon  and  sud- 
denly seized  by  one  of  these  paroxysms.  The  remedies,  al- 
ways at  hand,  before  applied  with  success,  were  now  resorted 
to  in  vain ;  and  before  the  physician  could  reach  the  house,  or 
the  family  even  be  assembled,  with  perfect  consciousness  and 
perfect  resignation,  without  a  struggle,  and  almost  without  a 
sigh,  he  breathed  out  his  life,  in  less  than  half  an  hour  from 
the  first  attack. 

Such  was  the  peaceful  close  of  a  beautiful  life. 

The  Danish  Sound  Dues  form  the  subject  of  an  elaborate  and 
detailed  report  at  the  December  meeting.  The  history  of  this 
exaction  upon  general  commerce  is  told,  as  far  as  it  was  dis- 
coverable, and  its  operation  upon  our  own  commerce,  is  illus- 
trated by  quoting  the  Tariff  of  Dues,  as  follows  : — 

Raw  Cotton,  per  100  lbs.,  about  20  cents. 

Eice "         "        "      11     " 

Tobacco,     "         "         "      17J  " 

Consequently,  says  the  memorial  adopted  by  the  Chamber 
and  transmitted  to  Congress,  "  a  cargo  of  2000  bales  cotton 


148  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

pays  a  tax  to  Denmark  of  about  $1720 ;  a  cargo  of  800  hhds. 
tobacco  pays  about  $1400,  and  1000  tierces  of  rice  about  $700." 

The  day  designated  by  the  Charter  for  the  stated  monthly 
meetings  of  the  Chamber,  Tuesday,  being  found  inconvenient, 
by  reason  of  the  present  arrangement  of  the  foreign  mails  by 
steamers  taking  their  departure  on  Wednesday,  a  memorial  to 
the  Legislature  for  a  change  of  the  day,  leaving  it  optional  with 
the  Chamber  to  fix  it,  was  forwarded,  and  its  prayer  was  forth- 
with complied  with.  A  report  looking  to  the  need  of  greater  zeal 
in  the  mercantile  community  in  behalf  of  the  Chamber,  its  cha- 
racter and  just  influence,  was  made  by  Mr.  Caleb  Barstow,  in  Jan. 
1853,  from  a  committee  having  that  subject  in  charge,  and  the 
recommendations  of  that  report  were  unanimously  adopted,  1st, 
for  obtaining,  as  soon  as  may  be,  proper  and  permanent  accom- 
modations for  the  Chamber,  and  2nd,  increasing  the  annual 
dues  of  members  from  one  dollar  to  three  dollars. 

Another  petition  against  the  usury  laws  was  forwarded  to 
the  Legislature.  It  asserts,  1st,  That  our  usury  law  is  more 
stringent  than  any  other  known.  2nd,  That  its  effect  is  to  dis- 
turb and  agitate  the  price  for  money  at  any  moment  of  pres- 
sure. 3d,  That  historic  facts  prove  that,  other  things  being 
equal,  interest  has  been  lowest  where  usury  laws  were  most 
lenient.  4th,  That  the  impression  that  the  request  for  a 
modification  of  the  usury  laws  comes  from  lenders,  is  erroneous, 
much  the  greater  proportion  of  those  asking  a  relaxation  bor- 
rowing more  money  than  they  lend.  5th,  That  usury  laws  should 
be  confined  to  fixing  a  rate  in  the  absence  of  any  contract,  leav- 
ing borrowers  and  lenders  to  contract  upon  their  own  terms,-  but, 
lastly,  despairing  apparently  of  overcoming  "  hereditary  or  other 
feelings"  in  regard  to  usury,  the  petitioners  limit  themselves 
now  to  asking  a  change  in  the  remedy,  and  that  instead  of 
"fine  and  imprisonment  and  loss  of  the  sum  loaned,"  as  now, 
the  penalty  be  restricted  to  "  a  loss  of  the  interest  only." 

A  memorial  to  Congress  was  adopted  praying  that  the  As- 
say Officer  in  this  city  be  authorized  to  coin  as  well  as  assay 
gold,  &c.  The  inconvenience  and  practical  injustice  of  that 
provision  of  the  revenue  law^s  which  subjects  a  vessel  to  sei- 
sure  and  forfeiture,  if  dutiable  goods  be  surreptitiously  landed 
from  it  with  a  view  to  evade  the  duty,  and  that,  although  it 
be  proved   that  neither  owner  nor   officer  of  the  ship  were 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  149 

privy  to  such  evasion  of  the  law,  called  forth  a  well-reasoned 
memorial  from  the  Chamber,  asking  a  change  in  this  respect. 
The  memorial  well  says,  "  Since  the  enactment  of  the  law  re- 
ferred to,  the  modes  of  commerce  have  greatly  changed.   Then 
the  owners  of  the  ships  were  for  the  most  part  perhaps  the 
owners  of  the  cargoes  also,  and  disposed  of  them  under  the 
management  of  an  agent  on  board.     Consequently  the  know- 
ledge of  intended  wrong  against  the  revenue  laws  was  much 
within  their  reach.     At  any  rate  they  were  properly  liable  for 
acts  of  their  authorized  agent.     Now  the  ship-owner  is  almost 
wholly  a  "  common  carrier,"  and  cannot  by  possibility  actually 
know  the  contents  of  the  packages  which  his  ship  transports. 
With  what  justice,  then,  can  he  be  rendered  responsible   for 
the  unlawful  deeds  of  the  shippers  1     He  cannot  detect  them, 
he  cannot  protect  himself  against  them,  he  derives  no  pro- 
fit from  them.     Why  then  should  he  bear  the   punisjiment  ? 
To  inflict  penalties  upon  him  under  such  circumstances,  seems 
to  your  memorialists  to  be  in  plain  violation  of  every  prin- 
ciple of  equity.    We  fully  believe  that  the  ship-owners  of  the 
United    States  and  the  officers  of  their  ships,  as  a  general 
rule,  act  honestly  and  faithfully  towards  the  Customs  of  their 
country.     If  there  are  exceptions,  for  them  we  ask  no  shield. 
But  we  do    ask   that   the  innocent    may  not  suff"er  with  the 
guilty.     In    the  vastly   extended    commerce    of  the  United 
States  with  other  nations,  and  the  ample  facilities  required 
and  afforded  for  its  prosecution,  very  possibly  there  may  be 
individuals  (especially  among   those   who    deal   in   goods  of 
small  bulk,  but  of  great  value,)  constantly  crossing  the  ocean 
in  pursuit  of  trade,  who  occasionally  conceal  about  their  per- 
son, or  in  their  baggage,    valuable  articles   to  considerable 
amounts,  with  intent  to  defraud  the  revenue.     But  this  con- 
cealment is  sought  to  be  made  as  effectual  against  the  owners 
or  officers  of  the    ship,  as  against  the  Government.     If  sus 
picion  arise,  the  Government  can  examine  into  the  matter  with 
impunity.   Kot  so  with  the  ship-owner  or  officer.   Should  he  un- 
dertake under  the  influence  of  a  strong  suspicion  to  molest  the 
person  or  baggage  of  a  passenger,    he  would  be    liable  for 
trespass,  and  to  exemplary  damages,  if  proved  to  have  used 
violence  on   the  person    or  property    of  the   innocent.     He 
therefore  can   only  protect  himself  at  his  peril,  a  peril  that 


150  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

a  prudent  man  will  be  extremely  unwilling  to  encounter.  He 
is  placed  between  two  fires.  If  he  make  an  examination  he 
may  be  mulcted  in  damages ;  if  he  do  not,  he  may  be  obliged 
to  pay  heavy  penalties.  Your  memorialists  beg  respect- 
fully but  emphatically  to  put  the  simple  question — is  this 
right  V 

A  very  interesting,  and,  nationally  considered,  most  im- 
portant subject,  occupied  the  deliberations  of  the  Chamber  at 
their  meeting  in  March,  1854.  It  had  become  manifest  from 
the  concurring  testimony  of  ship-masters  and  the  records  of 
marine  courts,  that  the  character  for  efficiency,  subordination 
and  discipline  of  the  seamen  of  the  merchants'  service,  had 
very  much  fallen  off,  and  this  deterioration  was  accounted  for 
in  a  great  degree  by  the  fact  of  the  small  proportion  of 
Americans  in  that  service.  Some  means  therefore  were  to  be 
devised  whereby  more  American  youths  might  be  attracted  to 
the  sea.  The  conclusion  at  which  the  Chamber  arrived,  after 
much  discussion  and  deliberation,  was  embodied  in  a  me- 
morial to  Congress,  which,  after  setting  forth  clearly  and  for- 
cibly the  deterioration  in  the  character  of  sailors,  and  the  need 
of  some  measure  or  policy  which  should  restore  the  standard 
of  seamanship  and  the  character  and  qualification  of  sailors  in 
our  mercantile  marine  to  its  former  elevation,  recommended 
to  Congress  the  establishment  in  some  of  the  principal  seaports 
of  the  United  States,  of  Naval  Schools,  for  the  reception  of 
boys  and  their  preparation  for  sea  service.  The  details  of 
establishing  such  schools  and  the  probable  cost  thereof  are 
given — a  plain  English  education  and  thorough  training  in 
practical  seamanship,  alone  to  be  aimed  at,  and  the  schools  to 
be  in  hulks  anchored  in  the  ports  selected. 

It  is  estimated  that  six  schools  of  this  sort,  capable  of  receiv- 
ing and  instructing  200  boys  each,  might  be  kept  up  at  an  an- 
nual cost  of  #240,000.  The  original  cost  and  fitting  up  of  six 
hulks  is  estimated  at  $150,000. 

The  system  of  forced  apprenticeship,  which  had  been  tried  in 
the  navy  and  abandoned,  is  entirely  condemned  for  the  mer- 
chant service  by  this  memorial,  as  repugnant  both  to  those  who 
are  shipped,  and  to  the  masters  of  vessels.  "Desertion,  in  the 
hope,  or  for  the  sake,  of  wages,  especially  in  foreign  ports  where 
it  could  not  be  prevented ;  or  if  that  were  checked,  insubordi- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  151 

nation,  which,  under  present  laws  it  is  impossible  to  punish 
promptly  and  effectually,  would  be  of  constant  occurrence,  and 
would,  with  other  evils,  outweigh  all  the  fancied  benefits  of 
such  a  system." 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  while  the  evil  is  on  the  .increase, 
and  the  proportion  of  American  born  seamen,  on  board  Ameri- 
can vessels,  is  constantly  decreasing,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  whose  naval  service  can  alone  be  made  efficient 
and  glorious  as  heretofore,  by  a  large  infusion  of  American  sea- 
men, takes  no  steps  and  accepts  no  hint,  towards  remedying  so 
great  an  evil. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  what  hinders  but  that  the  ship-own- 
ers and  shipping-merchants  of  New  York  should,  for  their  own 
port  at  least,  establish  a  school  of  this  sortl  Why  should  not 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  take  the  lead  in  suggesting,  and  pre- 
paring, through  a  competent  committee,  all  the  details  of  such 
a  plan,  to  be  carried  out  under  its  special  supervision,  and  the 
school  to  be  subject  to  visitation  by  a  regularly  organized  com- 
mittee of  the  Chamber?  The  expenses  as  measured  against 
the  benefits  would  be  inconsiderable.  According  to  the  esti- 
mate above  quoted,  $25,000  would  furnish  the  hulk  all  ready 
for  service,  and  $40,000  per  annum  would  provide  for  the  keep- 
ing and  instruction  of  200  boys.  The  city  treasury  might  well 
contribute  something  towards  this  expenditure,  for  undoubtedly 
if  the  plan  were  successful,  it  w^ould  attract  many  lads  w^ho, 
otherwise  neglected  by,  or  deprived  of,  parents,  might  grow  up 
nuisances  and  burdens  to  the  city.  The  Navy  Department 
might  well  be  authorized,  if  only  in  the  way  of  trying  the  ex- 
periment upon  a  small  scale  before  adopting  it  for  the  service 
of  the  United  States  on  a  larger  scale,  to  contribute  to  such  a 
school;  and  from  these  sources,  and  a  small  annual  payment 
by  the  multitudinous  class  connected  with  navigation  in  this 
great  seaport — the  expenses  of  such  a  naval  school  might  be 
defrayed  without  an  appreciable  tax  upon  any  class  of  the 
contributors.  And  who  shall  say,  that  if  successful,  such  a 
school  might  not  become  a  model  for  pay  naval  schools,  where 
higher  instruction,  especially  in  mathematics,  in  the  arts  of  de- 
sign, and  in  the  modern  languages  might  be  aimed  at,  without 
sacrificing  any  portion  of  practical  seamanship  1  Under  the 
acknowledged  dearth  of  an  adequate  supply  of  American  born 


162  HISTOEY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

seamen,  and  with  our  commerce  annually  expanding,  is  it  too 
much  to  hope  from  the  public  spirit  of  our  ship-owners  and  mer- 
chants, that  some  such  plan  as  this  may  ere  long  be  tried  ? 

In  view  of  the  additional  articles,  made  part  of  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  whereby  peace  was  so  lately  re-established  between 
the  allied  powers  of  Western  Europe  and  Russia,  which  stipu- 
late as  part  of  the  law  of  nations  hereafter,  when  these  articles 
shall  be  accepted  by  other  nations,  the  principle  so  important 
to  neutrals,  that  free  ships  make  free  goods,  and  that  other  prin- 
ciple, so  much  in  keeping  with  the  advancing  civilization  and 
Christianity  of  the  world,  that  w^arfare  on  private  property  on 
the  sea,  or  privateering,  is  demoralizing  and  unjust,  as  well  as 
unwise — in  view  of  the  fact  that  such  was  the  decision  on  these 
points  of  the  ministers  of  England,  France,  Sardinia  and  Russia, 
and  that  the  concurrence  of  this  Republic  equally  with  other 
peoples,  is  invited  in  this  new  and  most  important  chapter  of 
inteiTiational  law,  it  is  interesting  and  unexpected  to  find  that 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York  was  beforehand  with 
the  negotiators  at  Paris,  and  that  in  April,  '54,  it  adopted  a 
memorial  to  Congress,  of  which  the  substance  and  the  prayer 
are  embodied  in  the  following  resolutions : — 

1.  Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chamber,  the  system  of  carrying 
on  maritime  warfare  by  means  of  privateers,  is  contrary  to  the  dictates  of 
sound  morality,  inconsistent  in  its  spirit  with  the  principles  of  Humanity 
and  Justice,  and  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  it  should  not  be  tolerated 
by  the  laws  of  civilized  nations. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  depredations  of  privateers  on  private  property 
occasion  much  individual  distress  and  ruin  on  the  one  hand,  without  any 
adequate  national  benefit  on  the  other ;  that  modern  warfare  can  be  car- 
ried on  efficiently  without  resorting  to  such  means  of  individual  suffer- 
ing and  private  plunder,  Avhich  fall  almost  entirely  on  the  commercial 
classes. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  efforts  now  making  in  Europe  to  extinguish  pri- 
vateering, by  arrangements  to  be  consummated  among  the  diplomatists 
of  the  old  world,  call  for  the  co-operation  of  the  Government  of  the  Unit- 
ed States. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  treaty  made  by  the  United  States  with  Prussia,  in 
1785,  negotiated  by  the  far-seeing  and  keen-sighted  Franklin,  Avhereby 
both  governments  bound  themselves  not  to  issue  commissions,  discloses 
the  policy  of  that  early  day,  and  is  well  worthy  of  our  support  at  this  time. 

5.  Resolved,  That  this  Chamber  notices  with  great  gratification,  the 
movement  of  Mr.  Gibson  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  7th  March, 
praying  [the  Queen]  for  "  special  instructions  to  the  officers  commanding 


HISTORY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  153 

H.  M.'s  cruizers,  in  the  event  of  war,  to  abstain  from  interfering  with 
neutral  vessels,  on  account  of  any  goods  or  property  not  contraband  of 
war,  contained  therein ;  and  to  direct  her  ministers  to  consider  the  policy 
of  entering  into  treaty  stipulations  with  foreign  countries,  on  the  princi- 
ple that  free  ships  should  make  free  goods,  and  the  neutral  flag  give  neu- 
trality to  the  cargo ;"  and  that  the  Chamber  believes  that  these  principles 
should  be  sustained  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  all  its 
negotiations  with  foreign  powers. 

G.  Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Chamber,  in  view  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  tonnage  of  this  country,  and  its  rapid  increase,  it  is  incum- 
bent upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  exert  a  leading  influr 
ence  in  this  reform,  whether  they  regard  the  demands  of  Justice  and  Hu- 
manity, or  the  interests  of  our  citizens  so  much  exposed  on  every  ocean. 

7.  Resolved,  That  a  memorial  be  prepared  and  signed  by  the  officers  of 
the  Chamber,  addressed  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  asking  him 
to  open  negotiations  with  other  powers  for  the  suppression  of  privateer- 
ing, and  for  the  recognition  of  the  principle  that  free  ships  make  free  goods. 

8.  Resolved,  That  another  memorial  be  prepared  by  them,  and  address- 
ed to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  ask- 
ing them  to  pass  such  laws  as  will  in  their  opinion  check  and  eventually 
put  a  stop  to  privateering. 

It  is  honorable  alike  to  the  sagacity  of  the  Chamber  and  to  the 
moral  principle  of  its  members,  thus  to  have  given  their  em- 
phatic testimony  against  the  practice  of  privateering — a  prac- 
tice entrenched  by  such  long  usage,  and  as  specially  adapted  to 
the  maritime  resources,  habits  and  enterprise  of  our  people,  so 
popular,  so  destructive  to  an  enemy  having  an  extensive  com- 
mercial marine,  and  so  lucrative,  but  at  the  same  time  so  open 
to  abuse  and  so  fraught  with  certain  demoralization  to  all  con- 
cerned in,  or  sanctioning  it — a  practice  which,  in  the  light  of  our 
actual  civilization  and  Christianity,  cannot  bear  examination, 
and  the  overthrow  of  which,  moreover,  even  upon  the  lower 
ground  of  enlightened  self-interest,  it  would  most  decidedly 
be  for  our  advantage  to  labor  for,  and  secure ;  for  no  benefits  that 
we  could  possibly  derive  from  it,  would  compensate  for  the 
disasters  which,  in  a  conflict  with  any  maritime  people,  would 
result  from  it  to  our  own  widely  extended  commerce. 

In  holding  this  language,  however,  we  desire  to  be  understood, 
as  possibly  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  intended  to  be  under- 
stood, that  in  thus  protesting  against  warfare  upon  private  pro- 
perty, they  aimed  at  such  warfare,  whether  carried  on  by  na- 
tional ships  or  privateers — for  otherwise,  in  our  own  case 
in  particular — if  unhappily  engaged  in  war  with  a  nation 
20 


154  HISTOKY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

having  a  powerful  and  numerous  navy,  our  commerce  would 
be  the  prey  of  its  national  ships,  while  we  should  be  re- 
strained from  making  up  for  the  want  of  a  large  navy  by  the 
numerous  and  efficient  privateers,  to  which  the  genius  and 
maritime  pursuits  of  our  people  so  well  fits  them.  And  the 
whole  force  and  argument  of  the  second  resolution  apply  to 
every  sort  of  warfare  on  private  property,  and  by  substitut- 
ing the  word  "  cruisers"  for  "  privateers,"  the  whole  ground  would 
be  covered,  and  why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  In  warfare  on  land 
the  theory  is,  and  for  the  most  part  the  practice  conforms  to  it, 
that  private  property  is  to  be  respected,  and  except  in  the  case 
of  a  town  taken  by  storm,  where  brutal  violence  alone  has  sway, 
the  severest  penalties  are  inflicted  by  the  conqueror  for  any  de- 
predations committed  by  his  own  troops. 

Let  us  try  to  illustrate  the  civilization  of  our  age  and  coun- 
try by  striving  for  this  great  reform  in  maritime  warfare — which, 
with  the  kindred  principle,  that  free  ships  make  free  goods, 
would  tend  so  much  to  harmony  among  nations,  and  to  strip 
war,  if  it  must  come,  of  those  characteristics  which  leave  the 
most  lasting  feelings  of  resentment. 

The  memorial  to  Congress  founded  on  these  resolutions  was 
published  in  our  commercial  papers  in  May,  1853,  without 
calling  forth  any  very  decided  comments. 

At  the  October  meeting  the  subject  of  the  usury  laws  and 
their  unequal  and-  injurious  operation  was  largely  discussed, 
and  finally  an  elaborate  and  powerful  memorial  to  the  Legis- 
lature was  adopted,  asking  the  repeal  of  these  laws.  In  this 
memorial  it  is  stated  that "  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  states 
of  the  Union  have  made  honorable  progress  towards  the  con- 
summation at  which  your  committee  are  aiming.  Some  twenty- 
two  of  the  states  have  usury  laws  now  so  lenient,  as  merely  to 
forfeit  the  interest  upon  usurious  transactions,  and  this  relaxa- 
tion has  in  all  cases  been  found  satisfactory.  It  certainly 
would  redound  to  the  honor  of  this  great  State,  to  take  forth- 
with one  step  ahead  of  all  competitors,  and  stand  on  the  proud 
eminence  of  entire  freedom  in  so  important  an  element  in  our 
social  compact  as  is  "  the  medium  of  exchange." 

A  warm  and  earnest  memorial  to  Congress,  was  adopted  at 
the  December  meeting,  urging  Congress  to  authorize  the  fitting 


HISTOKY   OF  THE   CHAMBER.  155 

out  and  despatching  of  an  expedition  to  search  for  Dr.  Kane 
and  his  adventurous  companions. 

Rogers'  system  of  Sig?ial  Flags  was  by  vote  of  the  Chamber 
recommended  as  being  national,  to  the  mercantile  marine  of 
the  United  States. 

In  January,  '55,  resolutions  complimentary  to  Commodore 
Perry,  just  returned  to  the  United  States,  for  his  successful 
negotiation  with  Japan,  were  unanimously  passed,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  25  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Chamber  was  de- 
signated to  *'  take  such  measures  as  may  be  deemed  proper  to 
show  their  appreciation  of  Commodore  Perry's  services  in  ne- 
gotiating this  treaty."  At  a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  an- 
nounced to  the  Chamber  that  a  sum  of  $6000  had  been  raised, 
and  a  large  service  of  plate  been  purchased  therewith.  The 
removal  of  the  Quarantine  establishment  from  Staten  Island 
was  again  agitated — a  bill  had  been  passed  some  years  before 
by  the  Legislature,  authorizing  the  removal  of  the  Quarantine 
from  the  island,  and  its  establishment  at  Sandy  Hook,  but  this 
project  failed  to  obtain  the  assent  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
as  the  proprietor  of  the  soil  of  Sandy  Hook,  which  had  been 
ceded  to  the  use  of  the  United  States  for  certain  specific  pur- 
poses, in  which  the  establishment  of  a  Quarantine  was  not  in- 
cluded. The  present  scheme  was  to  establish  a  floating  7ios- 
pital  for  yellow  fever  patients  off  Coney  Island,  all  other  per- 
sons liable  to  detention  at  Quarantine  to  be  transferred  to 
Ward's  Island.  This  preposterous  project,  was  summarily 
disposed  of  by  a  brief  but  telling  report  by  Gr.  W.  Blunt,  from 
a  committee  of  the  Chamber,  which  was  accepted,  and  ordered 
to  be  forwarded  to  Albany. 

The  Chamber  also  strongly  remonstrated  against  a  projected 
removal  of  the  city  offices  and  courts  of  law,  to  a  distance  (Ma- 
dison Square)  of  some  three  miles  from  the  Custom-house,  Post- 
office,  Assay  office,  banking  and  insurance  companies,  and  the 
Merchants'  Exchange,  as  fraught  with  the  greatest  inconve- 
nience. 

At  a  special  meeting  on  9th  April,  '55,  summoned  for  the 
purpose,  resolutions  of  respect  for  the  memory,  and  regret  for 
the  loss  of  the  late  Walter  E.  Jones,  a  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber, were  adopted. 


156  HISTOEY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

On  the  27th  November,  at  a  special  meeting,  the  Chamber 
received  and  unanimously  adopted  a  report  and  resolutions  res- 
pecting the  seizure  of  the  bark  Maury,  in  this  port,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  British  consul,  Mr.  Barclay,  and  the  British 
Minister,  Mr.  Orampton.  About  this  vessel,  its  destination, 
and  its  eminently  respectable  owners,  there  never  was  a  sha- 
dow of  doubt,  and  the  Chamber  speaks  emphatically  when  it 
says,  in  reference  to  the  course  of  these  British  officials,  "that 
the  feelings  of  a  respectable  firm,  and  the  character  of  New 
York  merchants,  have  been  needlessly  disparaged  and  assailed, 
through  the  heedlessness  and  culpable  want  of  inquiry  or  strange 
credulity  on  the  part  of  those  making  the  representations  to  the 
American  Government,"  which  led  to  the  seizure. 

The  whole  report,  with  the  resolutions  appended  to  it,  alike 
in  its  statements,  tone  and  spirit,  is  honorable  to  the  character 
and  sense  of  self-respect  of  New  York  merchants,  and  being  pub- 
lished, by  order  of  the  Chamber,  both  in  the  newspapers  and  in 
pamphlet  form,  it  had  a  wide  circulation. 

On  29th  January,  'dQ,  a  special  meeting  was  held  to  express 
the  regret  of  the  Chamber  at  the  death  of  their  1st  Vice  Presi- 
den,  Geo.  Curtis.  Eesolutions  of  regret  and  warm  respect  were 
adopted. 

At  the  February  meeting,  a  report  on  the  reciprocity  trade 
with  Canada,  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  for- 
warded to  Congress,  asking  the  extension  of  this  reciprocity,  so 
as  to  do  away  with  "all  duties  and  restrictions  on  the  impor- 
tation into  the  United  States  of  all  articles,  the  growth,  pro- 
duce or  manufacture  of  the  Canadas;  also  to  permit  all  ships 
and  vessels  built  in  Canada  to  participate  on  equal  terms  in  the 
shipping  or  coasting  trade  on  the  interior  lakes  and  fresh  waters 
intervening  between  the  two  countries,  and  for  that  purpose  to 
open  to  the  free  and  common  use  of  both,  all  the  water  commu- 
nications, coasts  and  ports  on  the  said  intervening  waters  be- 
tween Canada  and  the  United  States,  to  take  effect  whenever 
the  Government  of  Canada  shall  pass  a  law  to  extend  thft  like 
privileges  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  so  that  the  vessels  of 
both  countries  may  engage  in  the  coasting  trade  on  the  inter- 
vening waters  aforesaid,  on  equal  terms." 

This  departure  from  a  policy  as  old  as  the  government,  of 
confining  the  coasting  trade  to  our  own  vessels,  appears,  by  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHAMBER.  157 

record,  to  have  been  sanctioned  by  a  unanimous  vote ;  but,  as 
about  this  time,  or  rather  for  several  months  previous,  the  prac- 
tice coeval  with  the  Chamber  of  recording  the  names  of  all  the 
members  present  had  been  discontinued,  it  does  not  appear  who 
or  how  many  members  were  present  at  this  rather  remarkable 
vote,  which  proposes  so  great  a  change  in  ancient  policy  res- 
pecting the  coasting  trade,  and  limits  it  io  fresh  waters. 

A  special  meeting  was  held  in  March,  to  protest  against  a 
scheme  then  pushed  in  the  Legislature,  of  breaking  up  the  com- 
mission constituted  by  previous  law,  for  examining  the  effect  of 
encroachments  upon  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  fixing  a  limit 
beyond  which  no  future  encroachment  should  be  made.  The 
Chamber  bears  earnest  testimony  to  the  value  of  the  labors  al- 
ready accomplished  by  that  commission,  and  expresses  its 
strong  desire  that  it  may  be  continued  till  those  labors  are 
completed. 

At  the  same  meeting  thanks  were  unanimously  voted  to  Pro- 
fessor Bache,  Gen.  Totten  and  the  officers  under  their  com- 
mand, for  the  services  they  had  already  rendered  on  this  com- 
mission. 

A  memorial  to  Congress  was  adopted,  in  concert  with  the 
Boston  Board  of  Trade,  praying  that  two  war  steamers,  of 
light  draft,  be  fitted  out  and  sent  to  the  China  Seas,  to  repress 
piracy  there.  In  concert  with  the  same  Board,  an  application 
was  made  to  Congress,  that  copies  of  all  printed  documents  be 
sent  to  the  diff'erent  chambers  of  commerce  in  the  country. 

Resolutions  were  adopted  at  the  May  meeting,  thanking  the 
Hon,  Mr.  Pelton,  of  this  city,  for  having  introduced  a  bill  into 
the  House  of  Representatives,  authorizing  the  purchase  or  con- 
struction of  a  suitable  steam  revenue  cutter,  to  be  stationed  in 
this  port,  and  urging  upon  Congress  the  adoption  of  this  bill. 

Resolutions,  in  the  accustomed  form,  on  the  death  of  Robert 
Kelly,  a  member  of  the  Board,  were  adopted  on  5th  May. 

And  here  our  task  ends.  Having,  in  conformity  with  the  re- 
solution of  the  Chamber,  brought  up  this  notice  to  the  present 
day,  when  the  Chair  of  the  Chamber  is  so  worthily  and  satis- 
factorily occupied  by  Pelatiah  Perit — a  name  identified  with 
commercial  honor  and  success — with  disinterested  and  intelli- 
gent labors  to  promote  good  morals,  general  education  and  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel — it  remains  only  to  add  the  concluding 
paragraphs  of  the  original  Memoir. 


158  HISTORY   OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

My  hope  and  aim  in  thus  reviving  the  past,  and  placing  be 
fore  the  present  day  some  of  the  memorials  of  the  merchants  of 
our  early  beginning,  our  colonial  and  Eevolutionary  days — have 
been  that  those  who  now  fill  places  made  vacant  by  them — 
may  from  such  antecedents  derive  additional  motives  for  a  like 
exercise  of  civic  virtues,  of  unflinching  patriotism,  and  of  intel- 
ligent enterprise. 

I  have,  I  confess,  another  motive,  that  of  contributing, 
if  it  may  be,  to  revive  interest  in,  and  the  energy  and  im- 
portance of,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  We  have  seen  that 
from  its  origin  up  to  the  commencement  of  this  century,  and 
occasionally  to  a  more  recent  date,  the  Chamber  was  called 
upon  alike  by  the  authorities  of  the  city,  of  the  State,  and  of 
the  nation,  for  its  advice  and  opinions  on  questions  supposed 
to  be  specially  within  its  cognizance — questions  of  quarantine, 
and  public  health  and  cleanliness — the  laws  of  trade,  of  cur- 
rency, the  effect  of  inspection  laws,  of  high  and  low  duties,  of 
bankrupt  laws,  &c.,  and  the  records  from  which  I  have  so 
largely  quoted  show,  that  the  merchants  composing  the  Cham- 
ber could  always  bring  to  the  consideration  of  these  questions 
not  only  much  practical  knowledge,  but  the  ability  to  state  their 
views  with  great  perspicuity  and  force.  The  memorials  and 
reports  embodied  in  the  minutes  of  the  Chamber  are  many  of 
them  models  of  style  and  of  cogent  reasoning.  In  later  years 
the  Chamber  has  been  less  attractive  to  the  commercial  body  ; 
the  meetings  have  been  negligently  attended,  and  hastily  des- 
patched, and  as  a  consequence  the  influence  of  the  Chamber 
has  declined. 

This  should  not  be,  and  would  not  be,  if  the  part  that  it  and 
its  members  have  played  in  the  brief  but  illustrious  annals  of 
our  country,  were  more  familiarly  known.  If  what  has  been 
said  in  this  Memoir  shall  tend  in  any  manner  to  revive  in- 
terest in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  I  shall  derive  the  highest 
gratification  from  being,  in  some  humble  degree,  associated 
with  such  a  revival,  for  I,  too,  was  bred  a  merchant,  and  never 
cease  to  feel  proud  of  being  associated  with  a  profession  which 
is  the  civilizer,  the  refiner  and  the  liberator  of  the  world.  The 
genius  of  commerce  is,  indeed,  well  symbolized  on  the  seal  of 
this  Corporation,  by  the  god  Mercury,  with  his  winged  cap  and 
his  soul-compelling  caduceus.    The  old   Greek    Mythology, 


HISTOEY  OF  THE   CHAMBER.  159 

full  as  it  is  of  hidden  wisdom  and  typical  of  higher  things,  has, 
in  some  of  the  attributes  ascribed  to  Mercury,  well  foreshadow- 
ed the  nature  and  conquests  of  commerce  ;  for  it,  too,  as  is  fa- 
bled of  the  youthful  Hermes,  robs  Neptune  of  his  trident,  Venus 
of  her  girdle.  Mars  of  his  sword,  Vulcan  of  his  forges,  and  even 
Jupiter  of  his  sceptre.  It  is  commerce  which  covers  with  its 
ships  the  subject  sea,  which  sweeps  over  the  globe  for  materi- 
als to  adorn  beauty,  which  seals  in  its  scabbard  the  red  sword 
of  war,  and  cultivates  peace  and  the  arts  of  peace  ;  which 
lights  the  fires  of  the  mechanic  arts,  and,  last  and  greatest  of 
all,  teaches  man  no  longer  to  bow  down  before  idols  of  his  own 
creation  on  earth  or  in  the  skies,  but  looking  erect  to  heaven, 
to  walk  among  his  fellow-men  as  an  equal,  while  walking  hum- 
bly and  devoutly  before  the  true  and  no  longer  conjectural  or 
unknown  God. 

It  was  the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  merchants  who  form- 
ed this  association,  and  of  their  immediate  successors,  that 
they  filled  that  most  interesting  portion  of  our  history,  when 
commerce  was  rising  from  its  cradle  and  taking  the  first  steps 
in  that  grand  progress,  which  is  already  the  marvel  of  the 
world — and  which  is  yet  advancing. 

At  such  an  epoch  every  movement  was  important.  Events,  at 
other  seasons  the  most  trivial,  were  now  momentous,  casting  for- 
ward shadows  of  dark  and  solemn  import.  Nor  were  the  men 
of  that  day  limited  in  their  reward  to  that  which  the  eye  of 
faith  alone  could  discern — for  many  were  the  instances  where 
the  individual  pioneers  lived  to  enjoy,  in  real  fruition,  the  har- 
vest earned  by  their  industry  and  forecast. 

A  young  German  was  found  among  the  number,  pursuing 
within  the  solitude  and  depths  of  the  primeval  forests  of  New 
York,  the  trapping  of  the  beaver  upon  its  remote  and  then  al- 
most inaccessible  waters. 

That  individual  lived  to  be  pushed  before  the  advancing 
wave  of  civilization,  inward  and  inward,  and  yet  farther  in- 
ward, through  the  great  range  of  inland  seas,  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tremity of  Lake  Superior,  and  thence  onward  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  still  borne  on  by  the  wave,  surmounting  them, 
till  he  was  checked  only  in  his  progress  by  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific. 


160  HISTOKY  OF  THE   CHAMBER. 

This  humble  German  boy,  thus  urged  on  from  ocean  to  ocean, 
stands  (and  his  memory  will  long  endure)  as  a  type  of  Ameri- 
can progress.  The  field  of  his  earlier  achievements — the  Se- 
neca Lake — then  a  solitude  and  a  waste,  is  now  gemmed  with 
gardens,  and  temples  of  science  and  religion;  and  in  this  city, 
his  final  abode,  and  resting  place,  and  sepulchre,  are  provided 
the  means,  through  the  munificence  of  that  young  trapper,  of 
building,  furnishing  and  maintaining  a  public  library,  on  a 
magnificent  scale,  free  to  all,  and  which  will  bear  to  all  time 
the  name  of  John  Jacob  Astor. 

Such  are  the  results  of  Commerce,  Inspired  by  Freedom,  and 
regulated  and  protected  by  Law. 


UNIVEESITY   OF   CALIFOENIA   LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

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